Four on trial in Valencia for 2022 contract killing attempt in Puçol
Four people face trial at the Valencia Provincial Court over an alleged contract killing attempt in Puçol in December 2022, with a reported fee of €30,000 that was never paid to the perpetrators.
The Fourth Section of the Audiencia Provincial de Valencia (Valencia Provincial Court) is hearing what prosecutors describe as one of the most striking contract-killing plots in the region: four defendants — three men and one woman — stand accused of attempted murder, membership of a criminal organisation, unlawful possession of firearms, and concealment. Prosecutors are seeking sentences ranging from four and a half years to twenty years and nine months in prison.
The underlying events date to 16 December 2022 in Puçol, a municipality in the Horta Nord district immediately north of Sagunto. Prosecutors allege that as the victim was leaving for work in the early hours, two of the defendants trailed him by motorbike to the factory compound where he was employed. At close range, one of them pulled the trigger of a suppressor-fitted handgun aimed at the victim's head; the round missed. A second pull was blocked by an internal malfunction of the weapon itself, which preserved the target's life. The alleged masterminds who arranged the €30,000 fee remain unidentified.
Under Article 139 of the Spanish Penal Code, killing in exchange for payment or reward elevates the crime from homicide to murder, substantially increasing the applicable sentencing range. Reported by El Periódico de Aquí.