• Trial El Melillero admits to having instigated the acid attack on his ex-girlfriend: "I just wanted to give her a scare"

The ex-girlfriend of José Arcadio D.N, alias el Melillero, testified this Monday in the Malaga Court in the second session of the trial in which the defendant faces a charge of attempted murder of two women - his ex-partner, Sandra, and her best friend, Cristina. The prosecutor, who also accuses him of crimes of habitual abuse, threats and membership of a criminal organization, asks for 51 years and 6 months in prison for having sprayed them with sulfuric acid with the intention of ending their lives.

Sandra, who has presented a statement for an hour and a half barricaded behind a screen so as not to have to see the accused, has narrated the brutal attack of which she and her friend were victims on January 12, 2021 in the Malaga town of Cártama. "Everything was very fast", he said, and he did not manage to see if the acid was thrown at him by Melillero or his companion - another of the defendants and known as El Poti - because "the only thing we wanted was to try to get out of the car because it burned us a lot", but he did manage to recognize his ex-partner on board the vehicle from which the corrosive liquid was thrown at them.

The strong water caused serious burns to the two girls and forced them to get out of the passenger compartment of the car to avoid suffocation by inhaling the fumes given off by the sulfuric acid. As the liquid scorched them, he laughed, he recalled through tears, and on his face he could see "a smile of satisfaction."

The young woman has specified that she was afraid of her ex-partner, who had threatened her the day before the attack when she and her friend were in the car and the accused, who was traveling in his car accompanied by Poti, cut them off. Then, referring to the other defendant, he told him: "look, look, this is the one who is going to take care of you" and made a gesture of slitting her throat, she told the court. This is an important aspect as it contradicts the account of the accused, who denied in his statement that he had threatened her.

After this incident, they did not see Melillero again until the day of the attack, she recalled, distraught. "We saw the car, I panicked and then they pulled up next to me and something fell on me that burned me a lot and didn't let me breathe," she said between sobs. Sandra and Cristina suffered deep burns on 45% and 25% of their bodies, respectively. Today, after numerous surgeries – a dozen in Sandra's case – they continue the process of recovery from a terrible attack that has left them with significant sequelae.

He insulted her, abused her and threatened her daily with harm to her or her family, but then cried, begging her to forgive him and not to leave him, she said. He tried to monitor his every move and even placed a geolocator in his car, something that Melillero acknowledged having done, although he assured that he did it at the request of his ex-girlfriend. "He was obsessed with my mobile phone and always knowing where I was," Sandra lamented, while specifying that when she couldn't take it anymore and broke off the relationship, "he took it very badly."

On Monday, a protected witness and Cristina, the other young woman who suffered the attack, also testified behind a screen. She maintains the same version as her friend: the Melillero threatened them the day before the attack with the acid and that what happened was so fast that she could not see who threw the liquid, although she has narrated that the Melillero began to smile when the two got out of the vehicle burning from the sulfuric acid that had fallen on them.

The witness's version has coincided with that of the girls. He told the Court that he observed a car stopped at a zebra crossing next to a car in the opposite direction. From where he was, he could see how from the driver's window, where the Melillero was, a hand came out with a bag and poured liquid through the window of the other car.

According to the account of the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Melillero ordered the Poti to approach the girls and throw the acid at them "to make an attempt on their lives" and with this action he would pay off a debt that the Poti, with whom he worked, had contracted with him. For Poti, the prosecutor is asking for a total sentence of 38 years and four months for two crimes of attempted murder, criminal organization and serious threats.

The trial, which was scheduled for last June but had to be delayed due to a health problem of a lawyer for the private prosecution, will continue on November 24, 27 and 30 and December 1 in the Eighth Section of the Malaga Court.

El Melillero has numerous criminal records and has been convicted of robbery, injuries, road safety, theft, reckless driving and was even convicted of a crime of domestic abuse against a previous romantic partner, but had managed to evade justice.

  • Justice
  • Malaga