Logroño, (EFE).- The owner of the picnic area who was with Álex’s parents when the child disappeared in a park in Lardero declared this Tuesday in court that Francisco Javier Almeida tried to take his daughter away, but she refused and , then, he grabbed the little boy by the chest and went with him to his house, where he allegedly murdered him after sexually assaulting him.
This man, a close friend of Álex’s parents, has testified on the second day of the hearing with a people’s court that is held at the Provincial Court of Logroño, for events that occurred on October 28, 2021 in the La Rioja municipality of Lardero.
The prosecutor and the private accusations, by Álex’s family, and the popular one, represented by the Clara Campoamor Association, demand a reviewable permanent prison for the crime of murder and 15 years in prison for sexual assault; and Almeida’s defense requests his acquittal, since he denies the involvement of the defendant in the events.
The owner of the picnic area, located in the middle of the Entre Ríos park, explained that that afternoon he had met Álex’s parents for dinner, on the occasion of the Halloween party.
From the door of his premises, this man has detailed that, when he was watching his daughters playing, he saw a man sitting on a bench with the same physical appearance as Almeida, who had been on probation since April 2020.
“In the neighborhood there had been talk that a man invited them to see little birds in his house. He first tried it with my daughter, but he refused and saw how he took Álex by the chest. He followed them to the limit of the passage, which she could not cross, and then she came to the picnic area to let us know and we began to look for him, ”he recounted.
Almeida was very calm
The local police officers who intervened in the search for 9-year-old Álex have said that when the defendant was surprised in his building with the child in his arms, he tried to “hide” him.
They have added that Almeida was “very calm” when they arrested him and only told them that the child had “passed out”.
Two local police officers from Lardero and another municipal agent from Arnedo, who was off duty but lives in this area, testified at the hearing.
The latter has said that “in the neighborhood it was heard for a long time that there was a somewhat strange person who had approached a boy and had just been released from jail.”
Lardero’s agents have confirmed that, the previous week, they had been notified because a child claimed that a man had invited him to his house with the excuse of showing him some birds.
These three agents, after Álex’s disappearance, went to Almeida’s building and surprised him on the landing of the second floor, when he was going down the stairs with the child (already lifeless); one of them took the minor and lowered him to the landfill to revive him and the other two stopped him.
All have agreed that Almeida did not smell of alcohol, nor did he seem drunk, since he maintained the verticality with the child in his arms.