Tenerife Lottery Seller's 10-Month Sentence Upheld for Unpaid Tickets

A court in Santa Cruz de Tenerife has confirmed a ten-month prison sentence for a lottery seller from Tenerife. The seller had kept 40 Christmas lottery tickets without paying for them.

The seller, found guilty of taking the money, must also pay 800 euros plus interest. This covers the value of the tickets and court costs. The court noted that there were unreasonable delays in the legal process, which was considered a mitigating factor.

Court documents show that on August 7, 2017, the seller picked up the tickets from a lottery office in Ofra. He took them on deposit to sell, promising to hand over the money he made.

Both the initial Criminal Court and the Provincial Court have concluded that the seller intended to keep the money for himself. He failed to give the owner the money from sold tickets or return the unsold ones, offering no explanation.

These rulings confirm that the seller caused 800 euros in financial damage to the complainant, who then went to court to get the money back.

The convicted seller appealed the first judgment. He claimed there wasn't enough clear evidence, as required in criminal law, to prove he committed the crime.

The Court responded by pointing to the original trial, which had already led to the sentence. What's more, the seller himself didn't show up for the hearing, even though he was summoned to his home. This meant he offered no explanation or defence against the accusations in court.

According to the Court, all these factors confirmed that the initial court had "sufficient, validly obtained and presented" evidence, upholding the original judgment.

The seller can still appeal this decision to the Supreme Court.