Irishman jailed for 10 years for killing and dismembering landlord in Barcelona
An Irishman has been jailed for more than 10 years by a Spanish court after admitting killing his landlord and dumping his mutilated body in a waste container.
The 53-year-old was arrested after the macabre body parts find in Barcelona in December 2022 and accused of the German victim's homicide.
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Yesterday he admitted his crime on day one of a trial in the Catalan capital which was due to last until next Tuesday when a jury retired to consider its verdict.
Public prosecutors had demanded a 12-year prison sentence for the Irishman, identified in a pre-trial indictment only by his initials W.M.A.
He ended up being caged for 10 years after pleading guilty to a charge of homicide and another three months for desecrating his victim's body.
A mental disorder he is said to be suffering was taken into account as a mitigating circumstance.
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Prosecutors had accused the self-confessed killer of fatally attacking the victim, a German named only as Alex R, two days after he had sub-let him a room in a seventh-floor flat in a central Barcelona street called calle Casanova.
They alleged he had subsequently cut up his body and spent the next few days leaving his dismembered body parts around the city.
A scrap dealer searching through street rubbish containers alerted the authorities after opening up a black suitcase with a strong smell coming from it yards from the apartment and discovering the victim's torso.
DNA tests
Alex R's Irish tenant was arrested after the dead man was identified through DNA tests along with a Ukrainian national who was subsequently released on bail and never charged.
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CCTV footage obtained from a nearby garage and a bank across the street were said at the time to have played a vital role in the arrest of the Irishman.
Police revealed at the time the rubbish container where the torso was found was just 15 metres from the apartment block where the killing occurred.
Spanish press accused the killer in the immediate aftermath of the crime of committing a 'huge blunder' by dumping the victim's body parts so close to the scene of the crime.
The scrap dealer, named only as Chiprian, told local media after making the gruesome discovery: 'My work involves going through the rubbish and when I saw the black case I thought I had found something good.
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'When I opened it up to see what was inside I was hit by a terrible smell which at first I thought was rotting meat a bar had thrown out or remains of food.
'It was only when I pushed the zip back a bit further I saw it was a body without the hands, feet or head.
'I informed a kiosk owner I know who was in the area and told him to look inside as well and he thought at first it was a mannequin.'
The regional Mossos d'Esquadra police in Barcelona said in a statement confirming the two arrests before the men went to court and it emerged the Irish national was the only one of the two suspects remanded in custody: 'Mossos officers from Barcelona's Criminal Investigation Division have arrested two men aged 31 and 51 in relation to the discovery of some human remains inside a rubbish container on November 29 on the corners of Casanova Street and Rome Avenue.
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Evidence
'As part of the investigation a home in the city of Barcelona was located where possible evidence linking it to a violent death was found.
'The two detainees have been handed over to a judge for further questioning.'
The killer claimed after his arrest he got into a fight with his victim and didn't intend to end his life when he hit him although further details did not emerge at his trial because of his plea bargain deal.
Court officials are still trying to track down a sister of the dead man, believed to live in Iran, to see if she wants to claim compensation.
The Catalan High Court of Justice said before the start of the trial at Barcelona's Audiencia Provincial court: 'A person accused of a crime of homicide will be tried from today.
'The crime he has been charged with occurred in 2022.
'According to public prosecutors the accused man rented a room from the victim and attacked him violently and killed him.
'Some days later, with the intention of erasing the clues of his crime and covering up what he had done, he dismembered his victim and dumped his body parts, disposing of them in a rubbish container where they were found by a person looking inside.
'Public prosecutors are seeking a 12-year prison sentence for the suspect.'
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