Voted Best
ISSUE NO. 1733
20 - 26 September 2018
Newspaper in Spain 2017 & 2018
MALLORCA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Bereaved relatives want tougher sentences by Tara Rippin THREE families of young people killed by drink drivers in Mallorca and Ibiza, have presented the government with a petition signed by around 350,000 people calling for changes to the law. The relatives, from Mallorca a n d I b i z a , a r e in volved wi t h a j o i n t c a mpaign on Change.org which is calling for ‘more justice’ and tougher penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Present at the handover at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid on Tuesday, were the pa r e n t s o f t e e n a g er Paula. The 15-year-old died after being hit by a woman who fled after the crash in Mallorca. Caught and tested, the fema l e m o t o r i st w a s found to be five times over the legal blood alcohol content (BAC). Her family were angered when she was released on bail after spending 12 days in prison. Rela t i v e s o f c y clis t Daniel Viñals and Vanessa Patricio, who were both killed in Ibiza after being hit by drivers under the influen c e o f a l c o h o l o r narcotics in separate incidents also commented. Daniel’s father Ramon Viñals, told Spanish press his son was struck by a man who was ‘drunk, drugged
CONGRESS: A petition calling for law changes has been presented. and left him lying there.’ He was given three years and six months. Mr Viñals went on to say th at it is ‘an o u tra g e th a t this is happening and there are crimes that are paid with three or five years in prison’ and are less serious, while a maximum for causing death in this way is four years. The family have already appealed the sentence, but Mr Viñal does not have ‘too much hope.’ But he said that joining other families ‘gives strength’ and is incredibly necessary for everyone to get the laws changed, pointing out that while their children ‘are not going to come b ac k a n y mo re , th ere are families, friends, people in the street, who cannot be unprotected in this way.’ Mr Viñal has already met with representatives of po-
litic a l pa rty C iuda da nos , and said he felt confident they had good intentions, although they have to meet and discuss the issue with other parties PP, Podemos and PSOE. The mothe r of a young man from Madrid who died in similar circumstances, lent her support to the campaign at the Congress. It’s believed the number of s igna ture s de live re d, when added to a previous petition, is sufficient to request changes in the penal code.
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