A Scotsman was allegedly stabbed with a screwdriver by a passer-by after refusing to give him a cigarette; The incident occurred in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, in the center of the city of Valencia.
A British man has been hospitalized in Spain after a passerby reportedly stabbed him with a screwdriver for refusing to give him a cigarette.
The victim, identified by the police as Scottish, suffered a punctured lung in the alleged attack, which took place in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in the center of Valencia shortly before 4 a.m. on Saturday. According to local reports, a 45-year-old man, believed to have a criminal record, was arrested at the scene in connection with the incident.
Two police officers were called after a nearby patrol car heard a woman screaming. The woman, a Uruguayan citizen, was accompanying the Scotsman when the alleged attack occurred. She told police the suspect approached the man to ask for a cigarette and when he refused, she allegedly stabbed him with a screwdriver.
The newspaper Las Provincias described the suspect as an individual with “altered mental faculties.” The victim was admitted to the Doctor Peset University Hospital in Valencia. His condition remains unknown.
It comes as a man was stabbed in the neck for no apparent reason at Palma de Mallorca airport in May.
Spanish police said the man, aged in his 20s, was stabbed while waiting for his friend to arrive at the airport. The attack was described as brutal and without apparent motive. An individual reportedly approached the victim and asked him something about his phone, and as the man struggled to understand, the attacker suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the neck without warning.
According to local reports, a suspect was arrested shortly after the attack while still inside the airport, while the victim was treated at the scene by a SAMU 061 ambulance. He was stabilized by doctors and later transferred to a hospital for specialized medical care.
A knowledgeable source later said that the attacker had no memory of the horrific incident. They said: “The arrested man said he doesn’t remember anything. He allegedly went crazy after his own phone was stolen while he was checking his bag at the airport after getting off a bus, and then approached the first person he saw to ask about his mobile phone, mistakenly thinking it could presumably be his.”
It was then reported that the suspect was one of those sleeping rough at Palma airport. The victim, an Argentine resident on the island, had gone to pick up a relative and never met the man who was about to end his life.
