Jon Musetescu, who was 29 at the time, killed three people in less than an hour in the center of Barcelona in January 2020. Agents of the Urban Guard reduced him by brawling over him, still with the knife in his hand, in Plaça Sant Jaume after having stabbed to death his last victim, the journalist David Caminada.
Yesterday, the trial against the accused, of Swedish nationality, began at the Barcelona Court, for whom the Prosecutor’s Office is requesting a sentence of 95 years in prison for three crimes of murder, five violent robberies and a crime of fire Musetescu has been in prison for three years and since then has continuously changed lawyers. The lawyers who have assisted him have always tried to convince him that, in the face of the clear evidence against him, he claimed that he had a mental illness or that he was under the influence of drugs with the aim of to get the lowest possible sentence. However, the defendant opposed any defense strategy and insisted that he was not the perpetrator.
In the first session of the trial, through his lawyer, he asked for acquittal after considering that he did nothing. “He denies everything”, he said. The prosecutor, for his part, argued that he has no doubt that the accused is the author of “this barbarity” and explained to the members of the jury that during the investigation “no disorder was noticed to apply an attenuator”. The public ministry was forced to withdraw the request for a permanent reviewable prison that it requested after the doctrine of the Supreme Court (TS) which states that this measure can be claimed when a person has committed several crimes. However, the new doctrine of the Supreme Court points out that these are cases in which the accused already has a criminal record, which cannot be applied in this case because all three are tried at the same time.
It was 3:00 p.m. on January 20, 2020, when the defendant allegedly assaulted a 40-year-old man, Héctor Alejandro Núñez, and stabbed him 254 times in a home on Carrer Portal Nou, in Ciutat Vella. He then suffocated him by tying a bag over his head. From there, the accused began a spiral of violence that would end with his arrest. After killing his first victim, he set fire to the house and climbed down the facade of the building until he reached the ground. He went into the alleys of the Gothic Quarter until, on Carrer Arc de Sant Vicenç, he ran into Concepción Rosa, a 78-year-old woman and mother of four, who was coming out of the gate of her house. There the accused stabbed her several times in the head and suffocated the woman while stealing her wallet, mobile phone, watch and keys. “He took advantage of the victim’s inability to defend himself by acting in a surprising and unexpected way,” says the prosecutor.
The accused’s violent rampage continued on Carrer Montcada, where the Picasso museum is located. He stole a motorcycle at knifepoint, assaulted a driver until he knocked him to the ground and left the area. Before committing the third crime, Musetescu still had time to enter an establishment on Calle del Bisbe to rob him, but its managers refused to give him the money and the accused turned around and went to leave. Already in Plaça Sant Jaume, he approached the journalist David Caminada, who worked in the communication department of Barcelona City Council, and tried to steal his backpack. The latter resisted and the accused stabbed him twice in the chest. Caminada, who was also a university professor of journalism, died two days later. A friend of his tried to intercept the assailant and also suffered a cut on his hand. After this last aggression, the urban guards who were in front of the City Hall were able to reduce and arrest Musetescu.
The trial will last until next Tuesday and the accused will testify on the last day.
