"Why did you do it?" the young man's mother asks the seven accused of assaulting him into a coma in Amorebieta

JOSEAN IZARRA Bilbao

Bilbao

Updated Monday,15January2024-13:12

"Why and for what did you do it?" pleaded Ana Claudia Ionita to the seven alleged members of the 'Koala Brothers' gang. A question that Ana Claudia has repeated a thousand times since July 25, 2021, when she received a call from her husband Eugene in which he explained that Alex had suffered an assault the night before in Amorebieta. The young Romanian was the victim of a brutal attack in which at least 13 young people were involved. The seven adults who sit in the dock from today face sentences of 14 years and 8 months and even permanent imprisonment reviewable if Alex's lawyers manage to prove that they were a gang dedicated to robbing and assaulting young people in Vizcaya and Cantabria.

The brief statement of Ana Claudia and Eugene, Alex's father, has involved the first session of the 10 planned in which 7 people involved in the attack on the young Romanian in the early hours of July 25, 2021 are being tried. Fifteen young people (eight minors have already been sentenced to prison terms of between 4 and 6 years) surrounded Alex, threw a bottle at him, hit him repeatedly with a stick, kicked and punched him and left him badly injured on the ground. In addition, one of the defendants today, Kevin Mateos, has acknowledged that he searched Alex's pockets when the young Romanian was dying.

Because the brutal beating suffered by Alex Ionita in a park in Amorebieta showed the presence of organised gangs in the Basque Country dedicated to robbery and aggression at local parties and 'meet-ups' of young people. The seven defendants have been forced to acknowledge only their participation in the four videos that were uploaded to Tik Tok by Cristopher Romero, one of those involved. "Don't blame me, I was a fart," Roimero recorded in his 'state' who today has stated that he posted the videos on social networks because "he felt bad" hours after having participated in them without doing anything to avoid them or to help the young Romanian who is now 25 years old. Romero has acknowledged that he "kindly" asked Alex Ionita for a cigarette when he was already "arguing" with three or four other young men allegedly members of the 'Koala Brothers'. Romero has even acknowledged that he even pushed Alex, later hiding behind the fact that he had drunk so as not to remember details of what happened.

The four recordings show how Alex - dressed in a green Boston Celtics basketball jersey with the number 33, the one worn by Larry Bird - was attacked for several minutes while phrases of "kill him, kill him" are heard. But also during the aggression recorded by one of the minors, a "leave it now" is heard, which Daivyson Rodrigo - one of the accused - has clung to to reduce his responsibility in the events.

The Prosecutor's Office is demanding sentences of 14 years and 8 months for the defendants in this hearing, while lawyer Mariana Tulbure, who represents Alex's family, is demanding permanent imprisonment for all those arrested for allegedly forming a gang of juvenile delinquents calling themselves ''Koala Brothers'.

In fact, the brutal attack allowed the Ertzaintza to link the 15 defendants with this group dedicated to stealing mobile phones, watches and money from other young people at popular festivals or at 'meetups' such as the one held on the night of July 24-25, 2021. The seven defendants and their defense lawyers have tried to disassociate the brutal attack from a premeditated act and even from the relationships between the different members of the alleged gang.

The defendants have repeatedly used the "I don't remember" or that they were under the influence of alcohol and drugs to confirm the questions asked by the prosecution and the lawyers of the Ionita family. However, the police investigation - up to 60 ertzainas are going to testify in future sessions - proved that the defendants traveled together by train from municipalities of the Left to Amorebieta and after committing the aggression they returned together in the early hours of the morning.

Kevin Fuentes – another of the alleged perpetrators – has acknowledged that he knew of the existence of a "gang" called 'Koala Brothers' of which he was not a part. Daivyson Rodrigo has also accepted its existence but limiting it to a group of whattshap used to organize football matches and party.

In addition, the court, the defendants, lawyers and prosecutor have viewed two videos also shared on social networks in which previous fights are allegedly provoked by the same defendants with the aim of perpetrating thefts of mobile phones and money. The Ertzaintza found in its investigations that this group had a fish market in Barakaldo (Vizcaya) that they used as a meeting point. The 'Koala Brothers' moved through towns in Biscay and Cantabria to use their superiority to intimidate and rob young people like Alex Ionita. Two and a half years after the attack, the young Romanian is bedridden after doctors from the Basque Health Service warned his family that he would not survive. Despite this, Ana Claudia, the courageous mother who appeared today in court behind a screen, continues to demand the truth from her aggressors.