Prosecutors Seek Acquittal for Tenerife Restaurant Owners in Fatal Robbery Case
Spanish prosecutors are seeking the acquittal of a restaurant owner and an employee involved in the fatal stabbing of an armed intruder during a robbery in Tenerife, citing self-defense and insurmountable fear.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has reached a major turning point in the case of a young man who died during a robbery at a restaurant in Guía de Isora, Tenerife. Prosecutors are now seeking a full acquittal for the two defendants—the restaurant owner and a female employee—arguing that their actions were a result of legitimate self-defense and insurmountable fear.
The case, which will be decided by a jury, stems from an incident on the night of September 15, 2024. Three people broke into the Saúco restaurant in Alcalá to commit a robbery. According to the details to be reviewed by the nine-member jury, the situation turned violent when one of the intruders entered the kitchen armed with a metal crowbar.
A Civil Guard investigation reconstructed the events, showing that the owner used a knife to stop the intruder from escaping. A physical struggle followed, during which the second defendant intervened after being struck by the assailant. Despite emergency services attempting to resuscitate him, the young man died at the scene.
The case is legally complex. While the Public Prosecutor’s Office is seeking an acquittal, the lawyer representing the deceased man’s mother is still pursuing the case. Under the Spanish Penal Code, "insurmountable fear" can serve as a legal defense, provided the response to a threat is deemed proportional. The jury must now decide whether the business owners acted out of a necessary need to protect themselves or if their response went beyond the legal limits of self-defense.