Crime
Tourist reporting husband missing in Malaga discovers he is in intensive care following violent robbery
Police identify 46-year-old victim using emergency room video after he was found unconscious with severe head trauma in La Trinidad
Málaga
The National Police have launched an investigation to identify and arrest the perpetrators of a violent assault on a 46-year-old foreign tourist who ... was attacked in the street during a robbery in Malaga city.
The incident occurred in the middle of last week in the neighbourhood of La Trinidad, where a Local Police patrol found the victim - whose nationality has not been disclosed - lying unconscious in the street. Observing that he had sustained severe traumatic brain injuries, officers arranged for his emergency transport to the Hospital Regional.
Because the victim was unconscious and stripped of his personal belongings - including his mobile phone - officers were initially unable to identify him. Medical staff and police recorded a brief video clip of the patient in the emergency room to assist with identification efforts while he was admitted directly to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Missing person report leads to identification
The case was transferred to the National Police, who established two primary lines of enquiry: identifying the attackers and determining the victim's identity.
The breakthrough came when the victim's wife visited the Foreign Tourist Attention Service (SATE) office in Plaza de la Marina to report her husband missing after he failed to return or answer his phone for several hours.
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A police patrol dispatched to the SATE office showed the woman the emergency room video clip, confirming the patient's identity. She was then informed that her husband had been hospitalised following a violent street robbery. The victim has since stabilised and has been moved from intensive care to a general ward to recover from his head injuries.
Investigators believe the primary motive behind the assault was the theft of the victim's mobile phone. The nature of his injuries indicates he was either severely beaten or struck with a force that caused him to collapse and hit his head on the pavement.