Baptista Found Guilty Of Murder

Bapista in Court. Courtesy of Alejandro Fernández
A jury of nine people, has returned a guilty verdict, in the trial of Paulo Cesar Baptista, for the death of Abel Urena, at Ushuaia Hotel on August 19th, 2011. The jury found that Paulo Cesar Baptista, was guilty of "intentional homicide" and the prosecutor agreed to a 10 year sentence, with Baptista paying €80,000 compensation to the victims family. The jury's verdict stated that Baptista's strength, size and knowledge of the Vale Tudo martial art, made him conscious, that the blow he inflicted to Abel Urenas head, was enough to kill him. They also found that his abscondence to Holland immediately after the attack, was a sign that he knew the gravity of his actions. The Jury found that Baptista had acted in a fit of rage, having been provoked by his hatred of drugs, which Able had been sourcing on behalf of his girlfriend, on the night in question. Baptista will also serve time for other assaults, including his connections to mafia crimes in Lisbon. In total he will serve 15 years in prison. It brings to an end, a tragic episode, where circumstances led to the death of a young and popular man from Barcelona who went to work in Ibiza for the summer. Sadly, Able's Father, Jose Urena, who fought hard to highlight and campaign the case, was not present to witness justice being served. He met with an untimely death when he was killed in a road accident in August of 2012. If it was not for Jose Urena's high profile campaign, there could have been a completely different outcome.The only good to come out of the incident, was that it was responsible for the introduction of regulations within the door security industry in Ibiza.