The editor of the Ourense newspaper ‘La Región’, Óscar Outeiriño, has taken advantage of the trial against him for an incident with the mayor of Ourense, Gonzalo Pérez Jácome, to remember that he already apologized at that time for the punch he gave him and which he attributed to the “provocations” of the Democracia Ourensana politician for years, even before he became a councilor.
The events that were judged this Tuesday in the Provincial Court of Ourense, classified as a crime of attack on authority and another minor injury, occurred on September 9, 2023, when both coincided outside the municipal auditorium of Ourense, where was holding a concert. “This man is always messing with me and talking nonsense. I did wrong and I apologize,” Óscar Outeiriño recalled this Tuesday what he told the Local Police at that time.
The editor of the Ourense newspaper, who only testified when questioned by his lawyer, reported that he was surrounded by friends and family, waiting to enter the auditorium, and alleged that Jácome was not playing a formal role in the event, since “he was not had no relationship” with the concert. He acknowledged that he attacked Jácome and that he told him: “You know why it is, son of a bitch.” However, he blamed the incident on the politician’s “provocations” for years.
Thus, he explained that Jácome had used his television channel, Auria TV, to launch personal attacks against him and his family “since the late 1990s, early 2000s,” accusing them of “being bankrupt” and saying things like that “he consumed drugs.” “This man has an obsession with us. With me,” Óscar Outeiriño lamented, adding that that same night, he voluntarily told what happened to the local police.
He also explained that the bad relationship had existed for years, long before Jácome was mayor and thus stressed that the attack, as he explained to the Local Police, was motivated by “old grudges.”
The defense of the editor of the Ourense newspaper insisted that the attacked person was not carrying out official duties and that the attack was the result of a personal enmity, which allows “the elements constituting the crime of attack not to be proven.”
Jácome: “It came like a bullet”
However, the current mayor of Ourense argued that the incident occurred while he was on his way to supervise a concert in the auditorium and reported that he was with another councilor and an advisor when, without addressing the editor of ‘La Región’, he attacked him. “He came like a bullet and punched me in the chest,” he said before emphasizing that he was fulfilling his duties, since his responsibility was to ensure that the event took place correctly. “I went only because it was my responsibility as mayor,” he proclaimed.
Regarding the accusations about drug use, the Democracia Ourensana politician denied that the statements made on his television were direct accusations, but rather that they were mere “hypotheses,” and he compared them with “those made by La Región.”
He acknowledged, however, that his relationship with Óscar Outeiriño had been “very bad” for “many years” and that, since he became mayor, the situation “reached another dimension.” “Worst relationship, impossible,” he summarized.
For his part, councilor Rafael Cachafeiro, a witness at the trial, indicated that, although he did not have delegated powers at that time, he accompanied the mayor in supervisory tasks due to his experience “in music and sound”, since he was a music teacher at the Municipal Conservatory. He recalled that the two of them usually attended events for just a few minutes, checked that everything was working and left, and that they never entered the auditorium because of the incident.
The story of the local police and prosecutor’s office
The representation of the Local Police stated that they went to the scene after receiving a notice that “the mayor had been attacked,” and that the accused, voluntarily, explained that “he was upset” and that “he had lost his mind” because of some statements “about him being a junkie.”
The Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of two years in prison for Outeiriño for the crime of attacking authority, in addition to a fine of eight months at a rate of ten euros per day. For the minor crime of injuries, he requests a fine of three months, also at a rate of ten euros per day.
During the trial, which was heard for sentencing, the representative of the Public Ministry stressed that the attack is not in doubt, but Pérez Jácome’s status as mayor at the time of the events is. For the Prosecutor’s Office, the action occurred in the exercise of his duties, since he was accompanied by a councilor and an advisor to “develop control of the event.” “The bad relationship cannot be reduced to the personal, because there is no personal relationship between them,” he argued.
The private prosecution, which requests two and a half years in prison, argues that Jácome was working to supervise the municipal event and that the accused was aware of his status as mayor. “It is true that there is a personal issue because they say they dislike each other, but not as a person. “I can say: I don’t like Mr. Feijóo, Abascal or Mr. Pedro Sánchez, but do I dislike the person or do I dislike the political person?” the lawyer reasoned. The private prosecution also requests 6,000 euros in civil liability for the media consequences of the attack, the political consequence and the moral damage.
As a result of the punch, Jácome suffered a rib contusion, an injury that required only one medical assistance and which took a total of five days to heal, all of them of basic personal injury, according to the tax document.
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