Almost 30 years in prison for murdering his mother and hiding her body down a drain in Malaga

A young man accused of killing of his adoptive mother and hiding her body down a drain in Teatinos, Malaga, will have to serve 27 years in prison for the crimes of murder, violent robbery in a dwelling and desecration of the corpse, with the aggravating factor of kinship. He was unanimously found guilty by a jury and, barely a week after the verdict, the provincial court of Malaga has passed sentence.

According to the ruling, to which SUR has had access, the events happened on 25 May 2022, when the defendant, in the company of a minor who was also convicted of these crimes, went to the home of his 60-year-old mother and gained access to it "by breaking the lock". The jury, in its deliberation, considered it proven that what they were after was "to obtain a financial benefit".

The victim, Ángela, was surprised by the two young men, who forced her to give them her credit card pin number, using physical violence. They tied her hands and feet and gagged her, ending the woman's life, according to the ruling. She was killed by "forcefully" pulling on the rope around her neck.

As stated in the ruling, the defendant was “aware that his actions could cause her death”, as well as of the circumstances in which Ángela found herself. "The defencelessness suffered by the victim was absolute", the court concluded. After the crime, the two kept 900 euros that they found in her purse and put the body in a freezer in the house, where it remained for at least two days.

Subsequently, "with absolute disrespect for the mortal remains of the victim, they proceeded to move her body to the storage room" of the house in a black bag, leaving it hidden in a trunk. A day or two later, they disposed of the body by dumping it in a manhole in Teatinos, a mere five minutes from Ángela's home. The yongster was found by the National Police on 12 July, weeks after his family reported him missing.

The jury unanimously considered it proven that the defendant's intellectual capacity was "valid" at the time of the incident, when he already had a slight mental retardation, according to the ruling. They also did not find any mitigating circumstance for being under the influence of alcohol or drugs, as the defendant explained occurred at the time of the murder.

In addition to the 27-year prison sentence, the young man will have to compensate Angela's mother with 50,000 euros, her four siblings with 15,000 euros and the same amount to the victim's other son. Her violent death has caused a profound emotional, and human trauma for her family," the court stated.

On the other hand, the Malaga provincial court has acquitted the two women who were accused of the crime of concealment, who are the minor's mother and her partner. In this sense, the ruling points out that this type of crime requires material collaboration and causal contribution, and therefore, "mere knowledge of the murder and the mere advice to dispose of the body do not satisfy the elements of the crime".