THE Valencia Public Prosecutor wants ex-porn star Nacho Vidal jailed for four years if he’s convicted for killing a photographer in a toad venom drinking ritual.
Jose Luis Abad died at Vidal’s Enguera home in July 2019.
The prosecutor has charged Vidal, 51, with reckless homicide, along with his cousin, who also faces four years behind bars.
READ MORE:
Both defendants may also have to pay up to €20,000 each to the victim’s siblings if convicted.
The indictment states that Nacho Vidal was a common user of ‘bufo toad venom’ which he regarded as a beneficial medicine but no qualifications to administer it to anybody.
On July 28, 2019, in a house in Enguera (Valencia), he conducted a ritual with a pipe prepared for ingesting the substance.
That day, he placed it in the mouth of 49-year-old Jose Luis Abad and lit it before giving instructions on how to ingest it.
Meanwhile his cousin was recording the ritual on the victim’s phone.
The photographer ingested the venom by inhaling it through the pipe, as directed by Vidal and after around 30 seconds, he staggered, fell to the ground, began to convulse, and his chest and face turned purple.
Despite obvious changes to the body- the indictment continued- none of the defendants stopped performing the ritual until Vidal approached the victim and confirmed he had stopped breathing.
Lacking medical knowledge, he failed to alert emergency services despite being aware of the substance’s harmful potential and possible adverse effects.
At that moment, he performed resuscitation manoeuvres, dousing him with water to wake him up.
The photographer responded, but began to breathe uncontrollably and unnaturally in a very laboured fashion until he stopped breathing again.
According to the prosecutor, the defendants, knowing the substance could be lethal, still failed to call emergency services.
Nacho Vidal spent 12 minutes trying to revive the victim without success, and at 11am, some 20 minutes after the Luis Abad fainted, medical services were alerted.
Paramedics arrived at 11.30am but they could only confirm the victim as dead.
An autopsy determined the cause to be cardiorespiratory arrest due to an adverse reaction to drugs.
It was concluded that the victim had consumed cocaine between one and four days before ingesting the toad venom, which triggered his death.
The indictment continues to say that the defendants were aware of his cocaine ingestion which would have the cardiovascular risk and contributed to the cardiorespiratory arrest.
Javier Vilarrubi, the lawyer handing the private prosecution on behalf of Jose Luis Abad’s siblings is seeking a seven-year prison sentence for Vidal, accusing him of a crime against public health, as well as for his cousin.
He also wants a three-year prison sentence for a third person- a friend of Vidal’s- for concealing a crime.
The person was in charge of maintaining Vidal’s home.
According to the private indictment, this third person actively and directly participated in the events, collaborating with the other defendants to conceal, cover up, and eliminate any trace or evidence that could incriminate him and all the participants.
“The defendants,” Vilarrubi adds, “despite knowing the personal situation of our client, acted without any rigour, nor did they anticipate the risks that finally occurred and ignored all the quantifiers that could increase the risk in our client even more.”
Click here to read more Valencia News from The Olive Press.
