The Civil and Criminal Division of the Supreme Court of Justice of Extremadura fully upheld the sentence of four years and six months for the male and four years for the female. Constantin Dumitru and Lara Priscila Guevara were accused of stealing 45 bottles of wine from the Atrio restaurant in Cáceres, the capital city, and were already convicted by the Cáceres State Court.
The Extremadura High Court rejected the defense plea, represented by lawyer Silvia Cordoba, against the punishment of those convicted for a particularly serious offense of burglary in a public establishment. Among the reasons cited was the denial of the appeal. It was also confirmed that the pair must reimburse the wine insurer, jointly and severally, in the amount of 753,454 euros.
One of Oda’s foundations states: “We must fully agree with the court that there is sufficient direct evidence showing that the two appellants participated in the events, clearly and neatly underscored by the court and supported by the seventeen pieces of evidence pointing to the authorship.”
Likewise, the decision notes that they were in room 107 on the night of October 26–27 (DNA testing) and that all evidence unequivocally identifies them as the perpetrators. Therefore, the criminal evidence that deepens the sentence has been reasonably assessed on the elements of the crime of robbery with the power they were accused of.
Proven facts
The Chamber finds that the proven facts from the first-instance court are presented again. The two defendants agreed together, seeking an unlawful advantage, naming the Atrio de Cáceres restaurant (led by Jose Polo and Toño Pérez) as the location they had already planned to target on October 26, 2021, and subsequently on June 1, June 13, and August 12, 2021.
The reservation was made by the woman using a fake passport and carrying a backpack, while Priscila was observed to have no weight on the scale when she was casually checked by an employee. The sentence then shows that the man arrived for dinner and stayed at the hotel without registering. After dining at the same restaurant, they proceeded to the room following a guided tour of the winery.
Around 02:10 a.m., the accused called the reception and asked for a salad, repeatedly inquiring how long the salad would take to be served. The receptionist, who was alone and claimed the kitchen was closed, was surprised by the demand, given that the couple had eaten a 14-course tasting menu and would be served later. He finally agreed that the order would take a minimum of 20 minutes to fulfill.
The attendant then went to the kitchen. When the accused appeared at the reception again, the man went to the storage area and seized the electronic key, failing to open a door because the wrong key was used. The employee returned to the reception after delivering the salad. From the cellar door, the accused called the woman back to greet the receptionist.
Minutes later, the defendant repeated the call to reception, this time to request a dessert. The employee objected once more and eventually agreed to provide fruit. The defendant returned to the reception and took master key 27 from a box, opened the cellar with it, and entered the tasting room where he seized 45 bottles of wine. These were placed in a backpack and two large bags that were immediately brought into the room before the employee returned to the reception.
The defendants left the hotel hastily around 5:00 a.m. The man carried a backpack and two bags with bottles on his back. To prevent jingling, he placed four towels taken from the hotel bathroom into the bags. This completes the proven facts of the sentence.
The decision is not final and may be appealed to the second Chamber of the Court of Cassation, as noted in the record. (Source: Extremadura High Court)