Group Clash in Valdemoro: Trials, Testimonies, and the Aftermath

The juvenile court in Madrid handled a case in which five to eight years of imprisonment was requested by the child prosecutor. Documents indicate an 18-year-old rival gang member was targeted. He was beaten, and his right hand was partially amputated with a machete at the Valdemoro Commuter Station in Madrid on November 25, 2021. The three defendants, aged 15 to 17, spent nine months in a detention facility and are now free. As reported by OPEN CASE, Madrid Juvenile Court No. 5 acquitted them after the victim had asked for leniency of five years. The victim’s shifting account differed from the night’s events and he refused to confirm how he knew his attackers. [citation: OPEN CASE]

The victim linked the assault to the Trinitarios gang and said there had been a previous attempt to kill him six months earlier, which the Civil Guard stopped. Later, he revised his account and denied it.

The person who identified the assailants on the day of the incident and who was shot at with a firearm was the victim himself. The Trinitarios, a Dominican group, have been competing with a rival gang for control of that area in Valdemoro since 2015. Six months before the Valdemoro attack, on May 16, 2021, an aggressor known as the youngest, Drago, along with two other Trinidadians, allegedly attempted to kill the victim and a friend outside a Valdemoro bar, asserting territorial claims. A Civil Guard patrol intervened to prevent the incident. [citation: Civil Guard report]

“This is mamahuevo”

The investigation suggests that this initial confrontation fueled the later attack at the Renfe station in Valdemoro, when the victim was about to start a night shift as a waiter. At around 10:19 p.m., three teenage assailants on a black scooter confronted him. One of them spoke in a Dominican accent, saying, “That’s it, that’s mamahuevo, come on, catch it, go ahead,” and pointed toward the victim. He responded by striking the rider with a machete. [citation: local witnesses]

Images captured by security cameras at Valdemoro Renfe station show minors involved, according to the investigation. [citation: security footage]

Without speaking a word, the attacker began stabbing the victim all over his body while the other two gang members clapped and kicked him, shouting, “Kill him, kill him, stop this!” Most wounds affected the victim’s back. When they closed in, someone swung a machete toward the face, leading the victim to shield his face with his right hand. The blows caused several finger fractures and partial hand loss. Eyewitnesses described how the three assailants fled as a neighbor applied a tourniquet on the victim’s leg to save his life. Police statements and witness testimony led to the identification of three minors, two aged 17 and one aged 15, all known to the Civil Guard as associates of the Trinitarios, with prior records including violent robbery, stabbing, resisting authority and vehicle damage. [citation: witness accounts]

Valdemoro Division

Investigations show the minors belonged to the Valdemoro sector’s lesser ranks, and they reportedly attended meetings with senior members of the group in the area near a nightclub in Valdemoro and near a school in Getafe. Civil Guard information services noted their close ties to two adult leaders nicknamed Panther and Kokola, who allegedly oversaw junior Trinitarios activities in Valdemoro. Months before the attack, officers watched and photographed the three minors at gatherings with other Trinidadian members. [citation: Civil Guard report]

The Civil Guard concluded that Drago, the youngest of the trio, carried the machete used in the Valdemoro attack. Investigators tracked the three suspects around the time of the incident, including movements from Ciempozuelos to nearby locations that afternoon. Station security cameras captured the group’s principal member and an associate entering the station with different transportation cards, avoiding a straightforward check. A third individual was intercepted on a platform but managed to escape through a restricted passage. [citation: police reconstruction]

Blood on the scooter

Following their arrest, the minors did not acknowledge the facts. One member later claimed that Drago had been seen carrying a bloodstained scooter near the attack site. He later recanted and denied everything. [citation: police statements]

The victim changed his account four times, leading the judge to note a lack of cooperation and concern for his recollection

The victim altered his account multiple times during the months of investigation. Seven months after the attack, after a lineup pinpointed the three Trinidadian youths, he initially insisted the attack involved four people, then changed to five and offered a complex description of who the attackers were, with some details not matching the detained minors. The jury considered these inconsistencies part of the broader context of the case and did not establish a clear, reliable link between the defendants and the crime. [citation: court records]

With a machete and some DDPs

The Madrid Fifth Juvenile Court judge noted the teens’ reluctance to acknowledge possible gang connections, which contributed to the difficulty in proving participation. Police had arrested one suspect on September 26, 2021, after attempting another violent act in a Madrid park tied to DDP and the Trinidadians, underscoring the ongoing gang dynamics in the area. The judge acknowledged that the evidence did not conclusively prove that the defendants were active members of Trinitarios or that the attack occurred within the organization’s activities. [citation: court ruling]

In light of the inconsistent testimony and the presented arguments, the criminal lawyer for one defendant argued for acquittal. The judge ultimately acquitted all three youths, stating that the prosecution had not proven their participation or their status as signatories of the Trinitarios organization. The ruling emphasized that the available evidence did not meet the threshold for conviction. [citation: court decision]

Red and green bandanas

The court acknowledged that “presumed elements” appeared during the inquiry, including color-coded paraphernalia associated with the Trinitarios, such as red and green bandanas and green bracelets. A search of a detainee’s home found these colors and symbols, but they did not suffice to prove ongoing membership or a formal charter within the gang. The judge also criticized the victim’s shifting statements, noting that despite incurable injuries, the changing narrative undermined the strength of the case against the minors. The court concluded that the victim’s statements, if clear and consistent, might have carried more weight, but the inconsistencies prevented identifying the attackers with confidence. The judge added that the victim’s objection to the sentence did not alter the outcome. [citation: court findings]