Lucía Garrido's ex-husband sentenced to 24 years in prison and the perpetrator of the murder to 22 years

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Lucía Garrido's ex-husband, found floating, with blows and a cut to the jugular in the swimming pool of his estate in Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga) in 2008, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison as the author, as a cooperator, of a crime of murder on his wife and to 22 years the material author of the act.

Fifteen years after the crime, the jury of the Malaga Provincial Court has issued the sentence, to which EFE has had access and which also establishes that both must jointly and severally compensate five relatives of the victim, for civil liability derived from the crime.

To the daughter, 300,000 euros, to the mother, 100,000, and 50,000 to each of three other relatives (the brother and two nephews and sons of a sister who assumed the greatest weight in the protection and care of the daughter), according to the decision, against which an appeal can be lodged with the Civil and Criminal Chamber of the High Court of Justice.

In the case of the ex-husband, the aggravating circumstance of kinship has been considered and, in both cases, the mitigating circumstance of undue delay, while the costs of the proceedings must each be paid half.

The sentence establishes as proven facts, according to the jury's verdict, that the ex-husband was the owner of the "Finca Los Naranjos", where Garrido was found, an enclosure prepared for his business of breeding pets and the custody of wild or exotic animals.

Illicit activities on the farm

"But under this racket there were overlapping actions, apparently, illicit actions that were also organized or directed by the accused, taking advantage of the presence of numerous animals, such as the illicit trafficking of protected species of fauna or the concealment of drugs that were entrusted to them by criminal organizations," it is indicated.

Although the couple broke up, the judge granted Lucía the use of the villa on the estate that was the family home, while he retained the right of access to the farm and the use of other buildings and the rest of the facilities of the family business that he continued to operate.

Lucía Garrido with her husband.EL MUNDO

Lucía "became a direct and eyewitness of the licit and supposedly illicit activities" that the ex-husband carried out and "was an obstacle" for him to carry out a planned business with other partners: "to turn the farm into a kind of zoological nucleus or animal deposit for the whole of Andalusia, for which he would charge substantial amounts of money".

"The defendant did not trust Lucía Garrido, so in order to prevent her from denouncing him for the allegedly illicit activities and that she was an obstacle to the business projected on the property, hetried to evict her from the house to occupy it himself with his new partner," but Lucía rejected his offers.

The enmity between them grew, great tension was generated and Lucía became "a real threat" to the continuity of the ex-husband's activities and, "to neutralize that danger", he, "or someone from his criminal environment, proposed a drastic solution, consisting of ending the life of Lucía Garrido".

Plan to kill her

The plan to kill her was hatched from the end of March 2008, when several people who planned crimes in Madrid and Malaga met in Torremolinos, including the now convicted as the material author of the murder, who belonged to a group of criminals and who "received, through unknown individuals, an economic offer to kill Lucia Garrido", He accepted the proposal.

The ex-husband "encouraged or consented to the hiring" of the former "as a hitman, knowing that he would make an attempt on Lucia's life"; He maintained contacts with him "which resulted in the provision of decisive assistance for the planning, preparation and execution of the crime".

He informed the hitman of the habits, movements, and routines of Lucia and her daughter; He provided him with a copy of the key to the pedestrian gate of the property and undertook to neutralize any obstacle that might prevent or hinder entry or escape.

The ex-husband was informed that the crime was going to be committed between April 28 and 30, 2008 by one or more individuals who would surprise Lucía inside the farm when she was alone, unprepared and defenseless; He gave his approval to the plan and, as he had agreed, removed the two mastiff dogs that he usually left loose on the property to prevent intrusion and kept them out of the way or locked up.

He knew that he was going to be investigated as a possible murderer of Lucía, but he was confident that he would come out on top thanks to the friendship and relationships of interests he maintained "with several corrupt agents of the Civil Guard and the alibi that was going to be fabricated".

Hit with a brick

On April 30, 2008, after noon, Lucia arrived in her car at the farm, while the perpetrator, alone or in the company of unidentified individuals, was waiting for her in hiding, sneaking up on her when she turned her back on him, "hitting her on the head with a solid brick until she fell to the ground, leaving her senseless or very stunned."

"He dragged her to the edge of the pool, where immediately before throwing her into the water he plunged a knife into her left side of the neck, causing lethal wounds that severed the external jugular vein" and she died moments later "from drowning and asphyxiation," according to the evidence.

The body was left floating in the pool with the bag still hanging, which the perpetrator retrieved before leaving to empty it next to the jar at the door and get hold of the victim's mobile phone, as he had orders to take it and make it disappear in order to eliminate possible compromising images or information.

However, he did not realize that he had forgotten or lost at the scene of the crime the key with the inscription JMA with which he opened the door, which was found and collected by the police; The biological remains were extracted from it which, after several years, served to identify him as the perpetrator of the crime.

This was the second trial for the murder; in the first, in 2019, the jury found the defendants not guilty and four people were acquitted, but the High Court of Justice of Andalusia declared the verdict and sentence null and void with respect to two of them, Garrido's ex-husband and the alleged hitman as the alleged perpetrator of the crime. and upheld the acquittal of the other defendants, two civil guards.

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