MAN JAILED FOR RAPE FOUND INNOCENT

Rafael Ricardi was released conditionally from prison last week after DNA tests showed he was innocent of the rape he was jailed for almost 13 years ago. He is now waiting for the Supreme Court revokes the sentence of 36 years. Ricardi maintained in the beginning that he had never set eyes on the two witnesses who testified against him or the girl he was alleged to have raped. He later confessed to the crime after he had been sentenced and jailed when he realised it was the only way he would get certain benefits in jail. A native of El Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz province, Ricardi told reporters last week: “It hurts me that no-one has asked me to forgive them.” Justice Minister Mariano Fernandez Bermejo later said the case had been a “lamentable error”.

MORE ILLEGAL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS

The case of the St Javier’s International Nursery in Marbella, whose owner was recently arrested for running it illegally in unsafe and unhealthy conditions, has led the authorities to take a closer look at other international schools in the area. A local newspaper reported last Saturday that there are at least 12 international schools are operating in Malaga province, mainly in Mijas, Marbella and Estepona, without permission from the local authorities. They are generally nurseries but some teach up to the bachillerato level. The owner of St Javier’s, a 40-year-old Spanish woman, had been running the school for 12 years without the regional educational authorities knowing about it. Police said that, among other things, she had not been paying social security or respecting the rights of the workers.

ALARMS TO THWART COPPER THIEVES

In an attempt to stop thieves from stealing its telephone lines for their copper content, Telefónica has been installing alarms on electricity posts for several months now. A spokesman said the worst-hit areas were Malaga city, Torremolinos and Benalmádena. He refused to give details, apart from the fact that it consists of silent sensor, so as not to help the thieves. He said most of the thefts were carried out by gangs from eastern Europe where the price of copper has shot up in recent months, from one euro a kilo to nearly eight. The spokesman said that while the theft of the copper was affected the company economically, it did far more damage to people who might need urgent medical health in the towns which were cut off until Telefónica replaced the lines.

PANIC BUTTONS FOR HOSPITAL STAFF

Several hospitals in Malaga city and along the coast have installed security cameras and panic buttons to in an effort to prevent staff from being verbally and physically assaulted by angry patients. In Andalucia, Malaga province has the worst record for such attacks. Most doctors said they had been verbally attacked at one time or another by patients who were not satisfied with their diagnoses or felt they had to wait too long for an operation. Recent figures show that hospital staff attending the public at reception desks suffered nine attacks a year on average, followed by doctors (3) and nurses (2).

MADONNA CONCERT TICKETS SOLD OUT

People started queuing up last Wednesday evening outside the FNAC office in Sevilla to obtain tickets for a Madonna concert scheduled for September 16th at the city’s La Cartuja Olympic stadium. By the time the office opened Thursday morning, there were at least 500 in the queue. Madonna’s Sweet & Sticky tour only has two dates in Spain – the other is in Valencia on September 18th. Tickets cost from €68 to €326 for the VIP area. An FNAC spokesman said the VIP tickets had already sold out and he expected all the other tickets would have sold out by the end of the day.

NO REFUGE FOR HOME OWNERS IN AMNESTY

A recent newspaper report that the main opposition party, the Partido Popular, has proposed legalising an estimated 55,000 illegally-built houses in Malaga province has raised owners’ hopes that all they have to do is wait and their problems will be solved. Nothing could be further than the truth. All the political parties have reached the conclusion that the only solution to a problem which is especially acute in Malaga province would be a sort of amnesty. But, according to sources at the Coin town council, this would not entail handing over completely legal papers to owners free of charge any time in the near future. The Junta de Andalucia has given town councils a “window of opportunity” to help owners regularise their property documents before the General Territorial Plan – known as POT in Spanish – finally comes into operation. This plan is the equivalent of a town’s general urban plan (POUG) but applied to the whole of Andalucia. The POT will put paid to all the “oversights”, irregularities and other glitches in urban and rural planning that have led to the present state of bureaucratic chaos. The source told the Town Crier that owners will still have to put their papers in order, that is, obtain escrituras which reflect the building that stands on their land – a rural dwelling as opposed to what many people mistakenly call a dog house – and its true value. This means getting an architect’s plan, notarising the escritura accordingly, and registering it at the town’s property register and the Land Register in Alora, at a cost of around €3,000 to €4,000 euros for average-sized houses. The process “regularises” the property, meaning that owners will no longer face huge fines – or demolition – for not having their papers in order. When the expected amnesty is declared, in about two or three years’ time, according to the source, owners who do not have their papers in order will be told to collect a building licence from their local council, which will cost around €4,500. They will then have to go through the “regularising” process. The source said town councils have no power to waive the fees charged by the architects, the notaries and the two registries. And anyway, the source said, even if the council could do it, it would be unfair to those people who have already paid the necessary fees to put their papers in order. At a meeting last week between local mayors and the Malaga provincial government, the Alhaurin el Grande mayor said he was already asking campo house owners requesting connection to the town’s water and drainage systems for a Certificate of Antiquity if they did not have their papers in order. The certificate costs €3,000 and only states the age of the house – the owner still has to go to the regularisation process. The source said that whichever way you look at it, owners of illegal houses will save a lot of money if they start getting their papers in order now.

TORREMOLINOS BOMB ´STRANGE´

Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba told reporters last Thursday that there were “strange aspects” about last week’s bomb in Torremolinos which had still not been “clarified”. The security forces also have their doubts. Beach bomb campaigns carried out by the Basque terrorist group ETA have specific characteristics. The group always phones in a warning before the bombs go off, which didn’t happen in Torremolinos, and they usually set off several bombs at different beaches over a period of three or four days before leaving the area to return to base in the Basque Country or the south of France. The police are also wondering why the person who set off the bomb – who they presume belongs to ETA – abandoned a gun, bomb-making material and false documents near the place where the bomb went off. A police spokesman said one reason could be that the person who planted the bomb decided to abort a planned ETA campaign in Andalucia after security forces busted ETA’s Vizcaya commando a few days earlier.

BASQUES REJECT LANGUAGE

Figures show that the Basque regional government has spent €126 million euros so far this year – 4% more than last year – on promoting the Basque language when only 11.5% of the population speak it as their first language. The number of Basque speakers rose slightly between 2001 and 2006 but according to the company that carried out the survey, the Basque government’s determination to impose the use of Basque in all government offices, hospitals and other public buildings, has created a rejection effect. A company spokesman said people are studying the language because they are being forced to do so, but they don’t use it. Another problem is that there are several dialects which the Basque regional government has merged into one known as Batua, and many of the older people don’t understand it. The spokesman said: “You can’t go against the fact that we already have a communication tool, which is Spanish, a language that we all speak.”

LONE RANGER SENTENCED

The bank robber known as El Solitario (The Lone Ranger) was sentenced to 47 years in jail for killing two Guardia Civil in a drive-by shooting in June 2004. He was given 20 years for each murder and another seven for illegal possession of arms. He was also ordered to pay 95,000 to each of the men’s families, €48,000 to one of the men’s fiancée and €24,000 to the State for the damage done to the Guardia Civil patrol car.

16 SPANISH FISHERMEN RESCUED

Sixteen Spanish fishermen were rescued 480 kilometres off the west coast of Ireland last Saturday they sent out a Mayday call when the engine room of their boat, the Centauro 1, flooded. Scottish coastguards responded to the alert and asked for support from an RAF Nimrod. Another fishing boat arrived on the scene first and took the crew to the port of Killebegs. They are all said to be in good health.