ISSUE NO. 1698
18 - 24 January 2018
A XARQUÍA - C OSTA T ROPICAL
A MAN is facing nine years in prison for injuri n g h i s v i c t i m ’s eye. The accused may also be forced to pay €56,988 in compensation after allegedly punching another man’s eyeball out of its socket in an unprovoked attack in Torrox. If convicted of injury by assault, prosecutors are demanding the defendant pay almost €56,000 for reconstructing his victim’s eye and €1,000 in rep a r a t i o n o n t o p o f serving jail time. A further private prosecution is als o se e k i n g t o in crease any prison sentence to 10 years. The incident allegedly occurred outside a cocktail bar in Torrox Pueblo’s Calle Beso on May 10, 2015 at around 5am. Prosecutors say the accused a p p r o a c h e d h is victim as he was chatting to two women before punching him in the head from b e h i n d , “ wi t h o u t previous discussion or a word,” adding, “he gave him a strong punch in the eye from behind.” The man’s eyeball immediately came out of its socket and the defendant allegedly ran away. The v i c t i m ’s e y e re quired reconstructive surgery as well as stitches an d t o o k 5 4 d a y s to heal. On 1 5 o f t h o se d ay s the victim was unable to work as normal. Prosecutors say the alleged crime was further aggra v a t e d by the man b e i n g c a u g h t u n awares.
Credit: Asaja Malaga/Twitter
Sucker punched
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Prison for paedophile
CONCERNED: Benjamin Fauli, President of Asaja.
LA VINUELA: Running short on supply.
Desperate measures By Sally Underwood A water company is sending drinking water to preserve La Viñuela’s dwindling supplies. Emasa plans to continue transferring 100 litres per second from the western Costa del Sol to Axarquia specifically Rincon de la Victoria - through the pipelines normally connected to the reservoir for as long as needed. If maintained at this rate, the move will save the La Viñuela reservoir an extra three billion litres a year. Despite commitments on the part of the Junta de Andalucia to introduce mea-
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sures improving water supply, La Viñuela is at its lowest level since 2008, at around only 23.7 per cent capacity. Benjamin Fauli, president of the Asaja farming group, told one publication his group was prepared to consider industrial action if no improvements were made, “since we have been warning about this for several years and practically nothing has been done to avoid it.” Jose Fiscal said if more rain does not fall it is “probable” a drought will be declared. While the Junta met several times last year already to discuss the water shortage,
very few of the proposals put forward by irrigators have yet been put into effect. Since the beginning of last year, irrigators have been banned from watering their crops one day per week in a bid to reduce water use by 10 per cent. In July the Junta admitted the plan was not doing enough to prevent water shortages.
A VELEZ-MALAGA man has been sentenced to 12 years for abusing his niece. The man will also have to undertake a sex education training programme and will be banned from contacting his victim until this is complete after abusing her since she was 10 years old. The convicted carried out his crimes over six years while he lived in the same house as the girl, her sister and her mother. The Malaga
Provincial Court found the man would take the girl to his bedroom and assault her two or three times a week when they were alone. He has now been convicted of sexual assault and is banned from coming within 500 metres of his victim, her home or place of work, or communicating with her at all for 10 years. After his release from prison he will continue to be supervised for a further five years.
€2m investment boost POLITICIANS have announced the coastline will receive a face lift early this year following a multi-million Euro investment. Oscar Medina, Torrox’s mayor, explained works to improve the road surface on Calle Frigiliana and the N340 will take place during the first quarter of this year. Mayor Medina claimed the works were “historical urbanisation and sanitation actions which will allow the area to be developed.” The project, which is co-financed by the Provincial Council, may not be started any time soon, however, as Torrox’s ruling Partido Popular (PP) governs in minority with only six out of 17 councillors. This has made it difficult for Mayor Medina to pass a budget or launch any major projects including a new municipal morgue or football field in El Morche.