Alberto Lejarraga
An Englishman has been arrested in Marbella in relation to the fight at TOWIE star Elliott Wright´s Mijas restaurant that led to the death of doorman Jose Pisani, a Guardia Civil spokesperson has confirmed to the Olive Press.
The officer has confirmed that the man arrested is being accused of homicide, as he is thought to have struck Pisani when the doorman attempted to break up a fight at the famous expat restaurant.
The cop has told the Olive Press that the accused goes by the initials HGJ.S and was born in England in 1990. “He fled from the scene on Saturday and had been hiding since,” they said.
The 55-year-old, a well-known bodybuilder and father-of-two, was said to have been punched and fell, banging his head against the corner of a table on Saturday.
Pisani´s funeral will take place this evening in Marbella starting at 6.30pm. A mass will also be held in his honour tomorrow at 11.30am.
“This weekend we lost a much loved and valued member of our team,” a statement for the Mijas restaurant, read on social media.
“Our hearts are broken and we have closed today and tomorrow out of respect. We are supporting our staff and the family whilst awaiting news of further investigations.”
According to sources, an ambulance took ‘up to an hour’ to arrive and he was rushed to Malaga’s Regional Hospital.
He was immediately sent to the intensive care unit with a serious head trauma, but doctors were not able to save his life.
An autopsy will now be carried out to certify the exact cause of death.
Jose Rafael Pisani Pardo was born in Caracas and was ‘happy’ having married ‘the love of his life’, Romina Acuna in November in Las Vegas.
He was previously married to another woman, with whom he has two children
“This is all very sad, he never started any trouble. He was a very good man with a great heart,” one of Pisani’s friends told a local website.
The fallout of the attack led to the restaurant being graffitied on Monday night.
It is not known who daubed the restaurant in red paint, but the words, including ‘asesino’ and ‘mafia irlandes’, were in Spanish.
By Tuesday midday, the graffiti had been mostly removed or covered with patches.
Elliot, a former star of TOWIE, The Only Way is Essex, has been a restaurateur for 20 years in Spain and owns a second restaurant in Villamartin, in Alicante.
It has been a tough few years for the restaurant, which was badly burned in a fire exactly two years ago, leading to it shutting for many months.
