Man sets fire to a homeless person in Fuengirola

A NORTH AFRICAN man was arrested for allegedly setting fire to a homeless man’s shelter in a subterranean passage in Fuengirola while he was sleeping inside it. The victim awoke in the early hours of the morning due to the heat and escaped uninjured. The detainee then allegedly brandished a knife to intimidate the victim.

A national police patrol unit heard the commotion and caught the detainee at the scene; the victim suffered no injuries.

Investigations trying to determine the motive for the attack suggest that they knew each other and had previously had a confrontation over an incident involving the car of the North African man.

This is not the first time that homeless people have been attacked for reasons unknown, although they are unrelated to the above case.

In December 2009, Lars-Göran Krona was murdered with an axe as he lay among some boxes in a parking area in town. Then, a few weeks later in January, Mario Bermúdez was attacked with an ax while sleeping in a walkway. Although he was severely injured, he survived to tell the tale.

At the time Fuengirola Mayor, Esperanza Oña criticized the Junta de Andalucia, who are supposed to be in charge of taking care of homeless people throughout the region, for not doing so.

She also said that it was a shame that Spain was one of the few countries in Europe that legally allows vagrants and beggars.

In 2007, the council asked the Junta to create a shelter for vagrants in the town, but to date this has not occurred.

By Nicole Hallett