The High Court of Justice of Catalonia has reduced Florin Petcu's sentence from 22 to 18 years in prison for the murder of the man whose body appeared on the shoulder of a road in Cabanelles, in Alt Empordà, on February 28, 2021.
The chamber partially upholds the appeal filed by the defense, exercised by lawyer Joaquim Bech de Careda, and nullifies the aggravating circumstance of cruelty that the Audiencia de Girona had recognized in the sentence. The court maintains, however, the conviction for murder with treachery and the mitigating circumstance of intoxication.
The TSJC rules out cruelty
The resolution concludes that this aggravating circumstance cannot be applied because the victim was unconscious when the accused caused several wounds to her neck with a knife or other similar object. The TSJC recalls the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court and points out that cruelty requires an increase in the victim's pain, something that can only be assessed if the person is conscious and can experience it.
"The victim was unconscious when the accused made various wounds on the neck" - Resolution of the TSJC
With that reasoning, the high Catalan court partially corrects the criterion of the Girona Court, which had imposed a sentence of 22 years in prison for murder with treachery and cruelty.
The aggression began at a party in Vilafant
The events date back to the late evening of February 27, 2021. The partner of the victim's mechanical workshop organized a party at his home on Camí Vell d"Avinyonet de Vilafant, where Florin Petcu and the murdered man met.
Already in the early hours of the morning, the defendant dealt him, according to the facts declared proven, a barrage of strong blows all over his body. During the trial, witnesses and defendants placed the origin of the dispute in an argument related to the drug they were consuming.
Around 3:30 hours, the convict transported the victim by car to Cabanelles. There he threw the body onto the shoulder of the road. The sentence recorded that, with the intention of ending his life and knowing that he could not defend himself due to the previous blows and his state of unconsciousness, he inflicted various cuts on different areas of the body and neck, and left him abandoned to the elements.
The jury pointed him out as the sole author
The lay jury considered it proven that Florin Petcu was the sole perpetrator of the crime. A second defendant was acquitted as there was no evidence to support his participation in the events.
The victim died from traumatic shock as a consequence of the blows and cuts suffered. A cyclist found the body at noon on February 28 and alerted 112.
New sentence of 18 years and possible appeal
By eliminating the aggravating circumstance of cruelty, the TSJC sets the sentence at 18 years in prison. The court justifies that conviction due to the seriousness of the facts and the behavior of the condemned, understanding that he acted with absolute disregard for the life of others when he left the victim in a ditch knowing that she was agonizing.
The sentence is not final and can still be appealed before the Supreme Court, so the judicial path of the case remains open awaiting an eventual review.