A 44-year-old German national, born in Kazakhstan, recently accepted a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence after admitting to beating a 62-year-old Ukrainian man to death with a fire extinguisher in Torrevieja. The incident occurred in the presence of the victim’s 12-year-old son. The seriously injured man died in the hospital twelve days after the assault. The accused had just arrived in Spain and had been staying near Flamenca Beach in Orihuela Costa. He was arrested for assault on his first night in Torrevieja and has since been held at Fontcalent prison.
On the following Monday, the defendant appeared at the City of Justice in Elche for a popular jury trial, which did not proceed as the panel was not formed. After the prosecution presented its case, a compliance hearing was held. The defense attorney was Aitor Esteban Gallastegui. The Ministry of Public Affairs reached a plea agreement that reduced the initial sentence to seven and a half years in prison, with an additional 26-year term for murder, trespassing, and injury.
Under the plea agreement with the prosecution, the murder charge was amended to murder with the expectation of mitigating circumstances tied to intoxication and partial restitution for damages. Compensation to the victim’s spouse and child was set at 196,000 euros, to be paid as part of the settlement.
The defendant faced a combined sentence of six years for manslaughter and 18 months for trespassing, plus fines of 750 euros for injuries to the victim’s son and a similarly sized penalty for related damages. Additional costs included 644 euros for the medical expenses incurred by the family for medical care after the incident.
aggression
The events unfolded early on the morning of June 28, 2021, around 12:20 a.m. on Torresal Street in Torrevieja. Rustem K., born in Kazakhstan but holding German identity, had arrived in Torrevieja with a Ukrainian friend who had driven from Germany to perform minor renovation work on a house in Playa the day before. He planned to stay in Spain for four to five days before returning to Germany, where his family resided, and he was described as having a good social standing.
The two friends drank together until the accused began to feel unwell and took a taxi back to his residence. The friend testified to Civil Guard officers that he was so alarmed by the situation that he had to help carry him to the third floor with the taxi driver. Once at home, the accused regained consciousness, then began physically attacking his friend, later explaining that he felt estranged during the incident. This witness corroborated the severe injuries inflicted after the initial assault.
The assailant then ascended to the fifth floor, seized a fire extinguisher, and pounded on the door of a home where the occupant was unknown to him. When the 62-year-old man opened the door, the accused sprayed the extinguisher into his face and immediately struck him on the head in an apparent attempt to kill. The event was observed by the victim’s 12-year-old son, who ran in fear as panic spread. The boy managed to shield himself behind a door, then called 112 for emergency assistance.
The defendant later pursued the boy and attempted to seize a kitchen knife from him. The boy suffered a blow to the head during the struggle and fled onto the street. A Civil Guard patrol, responding to the alert, entered the building and found the defendant wielding the knife and kicking the victim’s body. He released the weapon, dropped the knife, and was taken into custody on the scene.
The victim was hospitalized with critical head trauma and died on July 10 as a result of the injuries sustained in the beating. The boy who witnessed the attack was treated for multiple contusions, and the family cat, which had fallen from a fifth-floor balcony during the incident, required medical attention as well.