The facade of the sushi chain Telemaki in Sant Feliu de Llobregat dawned with a bouquet of flowers and candles in front of the blinds. The business is mourning the violent death of its owner. The young Ricard Guirao, 28, was murdered on Monday, allegedly at the hands of one of his employees, Albert Negre, 29, with whom he also planned to start a new business in a bar in the municipality, La Terraza. Negre was arrested by the Mossos d’Esquadra on Tuesday as the author of the violent death of Guirao. Investigators suspect that he dealt him a blow that killed him, tried to erase any traces, put the body in the trunk and set it on fire in a residential passage near the Eroski shopping center in Cornellà.
Guirao and his alleged murderer were friends. The young man employed him at Telemaki where he served as a sushi deliveryman to earn a living. At the same time, they had been planning for months to take over La Terraza, a bar in Sant Feliu de Llobregat that was owned by the Negre family. They established the company Àtic Sant Feliu with a share capital of 3,000 euros, which they both contributed equally. The objective was to change the face of the drinking establishment and obtain municipal authorization to serve Japanese food, like what they offered at Telemaki, during the day and continue with alcoholic beverages at night. However, they ran into bureaucratic obstacles. The City Council vetoed the permits because there was no access for the disabled. The premises can only be entered through steep stairs. Last week, Ricard proposed to the arrested man that one of the two stay with the company. Ricard told Albert that he would give it to him as a gift or else he would offer to pay him 1,500 euros for his share. As a last option, the deceased also considered dissolving the company due to the city council’s reservations.
On Monday, Ricard planned to arrive at work at 12 noon to start organizing the sushi sale. However, he called the manager to say that he would arrive a little later because he had just met Albert and had to discuss with him the liquidation of the company or who would keep it. They were never able to contact the young man again. His partner, the Telemaki employee and his relatives called Ricard non-stop but he never answered. Late in the afternoon they filed a disappearance report with the Mossos d’Esquadra of Esplugues. The family told investigators that the last person who had seen him was Albert.
His body was found shortly before five in the morning. The Mossos received a notice that there was a car on fire in the Almáchar passage in Cornellà. To the surprise of the agents, in the trunk there was the body of a young man who turned out to be that of the missing Ricard Guirao. In fact, the vehicle was that of the young man whom his relatives were looking for. Investigators who had Albert Negre’s name underlined in red only needed to find him. He was arrested at seven in the morning. This Thursday he will be placed at the disposal of a Cornellà court that must decide whether he enters provisional prison.
This Wednesday, the homicide group of the southern metropolitan police region of the Mossos carried out a search of Negre’s home in Sant Joan Despí. Lawyer Ana Maria Folch has taken charge of the private prosecution on behalf of the victim’s family. The arrested man’s father, who died two weeks ago, ran the well-known La Terraza cocktail bar for years, a place where there was previously an Internet cafe. His family had also owned the well-known Guinart cinema, which is halfway between Telemaki and La Terraza. Three scenarios for a crime that has shocked the town.