The juvenile judge on duty in Barcelona ordered yesterday the detention in a closed regime of the two teenagers aged 15 and 16 arrested in the early hours of Tuesday for the stabbing death of Carles Vilajosana, 45, in Manresa. The crime has shocked the Bages region, where the victim was actively involved in cultural and social life. Hours before dying, he had been with his twin sons at the correfoc that marked the end of a major festival that had taken place without incidents.
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Little by little, the homicide group of the central police region has been able to reconstruct what happened that night and early morning. And it has done so, above all, based on the testimonies of the group of friends who accompanied the victim. After the correfoc ended, and after Carles’ ex-wife picked up his children, the man intervened in a fight between two groups of teenagers. In fact, that action was already recounted by a friend of the victim in a voice message that went viral on Tuesday, as the news of the crime spread through the region, generating enormous outrage.
The suspect of being the material author has been living on the street since age 12, going in and out of centers
The party continued and, around five in the morning, Carles and his friends again encountered one of the two groups between which he had mediated hours earlier. The victim’s companions stated that one of the detainees, Pere O., 15, threw a cone at them. From that moment a brawl started during which they identified, without a doubt, Otman A., 16, as the author of the single stab wound, directly to the heart, that ended Carles’ life.
The teenagers, a group of four, fled. The victim’s friends alerted 112 and requested the presence of police and an ambulance. The officers of the first Mossos d’Esquadra patrol to arrive began performing resuscitation maneuvers until the arrival of medical personnel, who could do nothing to save his life.
With the witnesses’ indications, the furas of Manresa had no doubts about who they were or where they could find them. Both had returned to the occupied ground floor where a group of teenagers, minors and usual protagonists of incidents and thefts, live in poor conditions, sleeping on mattresses. None resisted. Otman A. had a bleeding wound on his face, near the mouth.
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The alleged stabber was born in Manresa. His parents, Moroccan, emigrated to Catalonia years ago, but at ten years old he stopped attending school and went into the care of a grandmother, who eventually gave up. Since age 12, the minor has been living on the street, with entries and exits from centers. He has a sister who has recently tried to redirect him, without success.
Pere O., 15, also born in Manresa and of Spanish parents, is, according to police sources, the more problematic of the two. Recently he had been arrested for violent robberies and is even awaiting trial for attempted homicide, according to El País yesterday. On Friday he was arrested accused of assaulting an elderly woman.
Carles Vilajosana’s death brought family, friends, and neighbors to the streets. They already did so on Tuesday to demand justice; yesterday they gathered again in a minute of silence and, at night, participated in a demonstration that gathered nearly a thousand people. After working in the wine sector and running a well-known bar in Manresa, recently he had specialized in garden and park care. The expressions of affection towards him have not ceased.
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