The TSJ of Extremadura confirms the prison sentence for the two accused of the theft of the Atrio bottles

The Civil and Criminal Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of Extremadura has fully confirmed the sentence of four years and six months in prison for Constantin Gabriel Dumitru, and four years for his partner, Lara Priscila Guevara, accused of the millionaire theft of 45 bottles of luxury wine from the Atrio de Cáceres restaurant that occurred in October 2021, in a sentence imposed by the Provincial Court of Cáceres on March 6. It is also confirmed that they must jointly and severally indemnify the wine insurer with 753,454 euros, which served as an accusation in the trial and which reached an agreement with the owners of the winery at the time.. Among the bottles stolen was the historic Chateau d'Yquem 1806, valued at 350,000 euros, although its owners, Toño Pérez and José Polo, who had acquired it at auction, have always assured that they would never have put it up for sale.

In this way, the TSJEx dismisses the appeal filed by the defense against the sentence of those convicted as perpetrators of a particularly serious crime of robbery with force in an establishment open to the public, which raised, among other reasons, the nullity. The lawyer Sylvia Córdoba stated in her appeal that her clients did not have any illegal participation in said crimes “that are improperly and recklessly attributed to them”, for which she requested their free acquittal.

In one of its foundations, the Chamber indicates that “we must fully agree with the trial court that there is sufficient direct evidence of the participation of the two appellants in the facts, ratified by the 17 pieces of evidence so clearly and neatly highlighted by the court that lead to the authorship of the appellants”. Likewise, the ruling does not question that the convicted “were on the night of October 26 to 27 in room 107 (DNA test) and all the evidence points unequivocally to who they were the perpetrators”. Next, it adds that there was “evidence of incriminating content, reasonably assessed on the constituent elements of the crime of robbery with force for which they were accused.”

The proven facts

The TSJEx confirms that the two defendants, “placed by mutual agreement and with the purpose of obtaining an illicit benefit,” decided on the woman, of Mexican origin, at the Atrio de Cáceres hotel -with three Michelin stars- on October 26, 2021, a place they knew about previously because they had previously been planning the robbery in the hotel restaurant itself, where the winery is located and where they were in the months prior to the coup, specifically on June 1, June 13 and August 12 .

The hotel reservation, says the sentence, was made by the woman using a false passport, of Swiss nationality, carrying only a backpack that, when Priscila was taken carelessly by an employee, observed that it had no weight. In the narration of the facts, at the same time, it is indicated that later, the man appeared to dine and stay, although he would never register at the hotel. After dining a 14-course tasting menu at the restaurant, they took a guided tour of the winery, as the hotel management usually offers to all diners, and then they went up to their room.

At around 2:10 in the morning, the former Miss Earth State of Mexico called the reception, asking for a salad and repeatedly asking how long it would take to be served to the only employee who was in the hotel-restaurant at the time.. Said worker, who was at the reception, after refusing to carry out the order, repeatedly let him know that he was alone, with the kitchen already closed.. He was puzzled by the request, given that they had dined on such an extensive menu, but at the defendant's insistence, he finally agreed to the request, indicating that it would take at least 20 minutes to serve what was requested, which was a salad.

The employee went to the kitchen, a moment used by the defendant, who appeared at the reception, where he took an electronic key with which he went to the cellar, failing to open it because it was not the right key.. The employee, after raising the plate, returned to reception. It was then that Constantin Gabriel Dumitru, 48, of Romanian origin and with a double passport from the Netherlands, made a call to the woman from the cellar door to entertain the receptionist again.

Thus, moments later, the defendant repeated the call to reception, this time to request a dessert, to which the employee objected again, finally agreeing to bring her some fruit.. The defendant returned to the reception and from a box took the master key number 27, opening the cellar with it, accessing the tasting room where he seized 45 bottles of wine that he kept in a backpack and two large bags immediately going up to the room before the return of the employee to the reception.

the hotel march

As stated in the sentence, “the defendants left the hotel hastily at around 5:00 a.m., the man carrying the backpack on his back and the two bags with the bottles, in which he had inserted four towels from the bathroom of the hotel room to avoid that they tinkled among themselves, getting into a vehicle”, conclude the proven facts. Nine months later, the defendants were detained by the Police at the Croatian border with Montenegro.

The judgment is not final and an appeal may be filed against it before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court. This has been confirmed by the lawyer for the defendants, Sylvia Córdoba, in conversation with EL MUNDO: “We respect the decision but we do not share it and we trust the appeal that we will present before the Supreme Court,” he stressed.