Updated 01:49 | Published 00:55
In less than an hour, three people were killed in Barcelona’s tourist quarter.
Now Swedish John Musetescu Werberg, 32, has been sentenced to 95 years in prison.
– He is a very dangerous person, said the prosecutor Manuel Sancho during the trial.
The act of madness occurred in Barcelona’s historic Ciutat Vella neighborhood on the afternoon of January 20, 2020.
Last week, Swedish citizen John Musetescu Werberg, 32, was sentenced to 95 years in prison for a total of ten crimes during the barely hour-long tour of violence in the tourist districts. In addition to two cases of murder and one case of manslaughter, he is convicted of arson, several cases of aggravated assault, robbery and illegal threats.
He is also ordered to pay more than 1.2 million euros – roughly 14 million Swedish kronor – to the victims’ relatives.
Bartender first victim
John Musetescu Werberg is written in Uppsala. He got high marks in the law program before dropping out a few years ago. In Swedish records, he appears for drug offenses and other minor misdemeanors.
In January 2020 – when the murders were committed – he was on a week-long trip in Barcelona. His first victim was bartender Hector Nunez, 30. They were acquaintances, writes the Swedish-language newspaper Sydkusten. Nunez was murdered in his home and suffered 254 stab wounds all over his body. He was also given a plastic bag tied around his head with a rope, according to the verdict in Barcelona’s provincial court.
After the murder, the Swede set fire to the apartment to get rid of evidence. He was caught on surveillance video escaping via the house’s balconies.
Stolen motorcycle
The next victim was Roza Diaz, 77, who came out of a gate a few hundred meters away. She died after John Musetescu Werberg robbed her, strangled her and repeatedly slammed her head against a wall, writes the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
Immediately afterwards, the Swede stole a motorcycle from a courier and continued his bloody deed. He tried to rob a shoe store and at Plaza Sant Jaume he stabbed David Caminada, 52, in the chest. The man worked as a communicator in the town hall and was attacked on his way home from work. Two days later he died in hospital.
John Musetescu Werberg could be arrested by the police after he was stopped by colleagues of David Caminada and several witnesses.
No clear motive
The court in Barcelona has not been able to determine any motive for the crimes, according to El Pais. The newspaper writes that the 32-year-old has been treated for depression in Sweden since 2017. Two hours after the arrest in Barcelona, he was examined in hospital where the doctors found traces of cocaine in his blood.
The forensic psychiatric examination in Spain concluded that the Swede did not suffer from any serious mental disorder.
– We want to believe that he is crazy. We don’t want to admit that a healthy person would do such horrible things. But there are people who commit evil acts voluntarily and with intent. He is a very dangerous person who has even attacked staff at the detention center, prosecutor Manuel Sancho said in his closing arguments, according to El Pais.
Blames conspiracy
During the trial, John Musetescu Werberg did not want to plead mental illness in his defense, the newspaper writes. According to El Pais he has said he was the victim of a conspiracy by the Soviet intelligence service KGB. At the end of the negotiations, he changed lawyers on the grounds that the first one did not pursue that theory.
His new defense attorney argued to the jury that the Swede cannot be held responsible for the crimes due to his mental status:
– You have to decide whether these actions can really be carried out by a person in their right mind, he said.
The Swede was found guilty by a unanimous jury. He is tied to the crimes through, among other things, DNA, video material and witness information.