Family of a motorcyclist who died on eastern Costa del Sol road provides new evidence in bid to have case reopened

Paqui Ramos, the mother of the motorcyclist and lawyer Antonio Luque submitted new documentation to the court in Vélez-Málaga on 19 July to request the reopening of the investigation into the fatal accident.

The petition has been lodged following the provisional dismissal of the case by the Provincial Court on 5 June. The family believes that further investigative steps remain to be taken and that there are still matters that need to be examined before the case is definitively closed.

"Let the investigation continue. That's all. Let the tests that haven't yet been carried out be carried out," demands Paqui Ramos, who has insisted from the outset that "we're not here to point the finger at anyone. We trust that the courts, with all the evidence, will establish what happened,"

The mother explained that they have decided to take this step because they feel the case was closed too soon. "There were things left unchecked. We want to do things properly and through legal channels," says Ramos, who adds that the family is facing this new phase "with composure", although the pain of losing Javier "remains very much present".

The documentation submitted includes a written application for the case to be reopened and four expert technical reports drawn up at the family's request. It also includes a notarised record containing statements from eyewitnesses who, according to the defence, did not end up giving evidence in court.

The family's lawyer, Antonio Luque, explained that the case had been provisionally closed and that such a decision can be reviewed if new evidence comes to light. "The case can be reopened; it is provisionally closed and it can be reopened provided that evidence and any expert reports that may be submitted come to light," he said.

According to the lawyer, the request is based on the need to carry out the checks that were not carried out during the investigation. The procedures requested include court statements from eyewitnesses, a technical reconstruction and other scientific checks. "What we maintain, broadly speaking, is that the investigation did not exhaust all the available technical checks and that it should be completed," the lawyer pointed out. "We are not attributing blame: we are asking for an investigation," he added.

The application is now awaiting the relevant procedures to be completed. The defence is awaiting the Public Prosecutor's report on the reopening of the case and is confident that the new evidence will be assessed before a final decision is taken. "We are hopeful that the prosecutor, in light of the new evidence provided, will decide to reopen the case and, at the very least, that the existing evidence will be examined and assessed," said Luque. The lawyer pointed out, however, that the deadlines are set by the court and that it is the judicial authority that must reach a decision.

The legal proceedings in this case have already been closed. In March the courts in Vélez-Málaga confirmed the dismissal of the case on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence of the offence of reckless homicide on the part of the 42-year-old driver of the car in question, who had her six-year-old son in the vehicle.

That ruling was based, among other factors, on the testimony of a driver who was travelling behind the car and on the toxicology report which showed that the young man had 2.38 grams per litre of alcohol in his blood. The family, however, remains convinced that there are still pieces of the puzzle missing and that a case that raised too many doubts from the outset cannot be considered closed.

At the Torre del Mar lighthouse, where the family maintains a small altar with candles and photographs and meets frequently, the wait for answers continues to set the pace of their days. They gather there every day to demand justice, but also to seek something simpler and yet, at the same time, more difficult: to find out the truth about Javier's final night.