Walter Finch
AN 84-year-old man is being retried for killing a burglar after his original acquittal was overturned last year.
A Palma court heard this week how Pau Rigo blasted burglar Mauricio Escobar, 25, in the stomach with a shotgun from point blank range in February 2018.
Mauricio and his twin brother Freddy had targeted the Porreres home of the retired businessman knowing that he kept large amounts of cash in the safe – and it wasn’t the first time they’d struck.
In October 2017, Freddy and the so-called ‘Demon Gang’ had tied Rigo up, forced him to open his safe and made off with €30,000.
READ MORE: Watch: Dramatic flooding in Mallorca as cars are submerged in water and town is ‘cut in half’
When they returned four months later demanding €200,000 they believed was hidden in his house from selling his business, Rigo, 78 at the time, managed to grab a loaded shotgun.
Mauricio’s defence lawyer has claimed that this shotgun was laid out in ‘preparation’ to kill his clients in a ‘disproportionate’ act.
The original trial in 2023 found Rigo – who claims he acted in self-defence – guilty of manslaughter, but the case has since gone through several legal twists and turns.
The provincial court in Palma annulled the verdict on technical grounds and then decided there had been ‘insufficient evidence’ that Rigo had ‘intent to cause Mauricio’s death’.
However, prosecutors appealed and the Superior Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands ordered the current retrial.
A Guardia Civil officer who responded to the crime scene told the court that he saw ‘I saw a guy lying on the floor and two elderly people inside the house, scared out of their wits and covered in blood.’
Meanwhile, a forensic expert took to the stand surmised that Mauricio had been lunging at Rigo when the deadly shot was fired.
The prosecution is asking for four years in jail for Rigo, who is expected to learn his fate next week.
