One of the four men arrested for the attempted murder of Mounir Nasraoui, father of FC Barcelona footballer Lamine Yamal, was remanded in custody on Friday after appearing before a judge. The arrested men remain under investigation for stabbing Nasraoui, 35, last Wednesday in an outside car park in the Rocafonda neighbourhood of Mataró (Barcelona), with whom they had had a confrontation a few hours earlier. The detainees summoned the Barça striker’s father under the pretext of making peace and there they stabbed him three times without warning, leaving him seriously injured and forcing him to be taken to the Germans Trias i Pujol hospital in Badalona, where he was discharged on Friday.
The Investigative Court number 3 of Mataró, which is on duty this Friday, has ordered provisional imprisonment without bail for one of the detainees, the alleged perpetrator of the attack. The other three have been released provisionally, although with precautionary measures of varying degrees: two of them must appear in court every 15 days, they cannot leave Spain and their passports have been taken away; in addition, they cannot come within 300 metres or communicate with the victim for a year. The judge has prohibited the fourth detainee from coming within 200 metres of Nasraoui for six months. The case remains open for the crimes of attempted murder and injuries.
The incident occurred on Wednesday in the Mataró neighbourhood where Lamine Yamal grew up and which the player made popular during the last European Championship: Rocafonda. While the footballer lives in La Masia, his father still lives in the neighbourhood. At around 3pm, Nasraoui was walking down the street when the detainees, of Spanish nationality, threw a liquid at him from the balcony and berated him. The man, who was wearing his son’s football shirt, confronted them and a small fight broke out which ended with some scratches. The local police intervened, separated the men and declared the incident over.
At 9.10pm, however, the detainees and Nasraoui saw each other again. It was not a chance encounter. According to the report, The Vanguard According to sources close to the player, the men had invited him there because they wanted to make peace. Instead, they attacked him without giving Yamal’s father a chance to defend himself. It is not known if they knew each other before or had previous disputes in the neighbourhood. Thanks to witnesses of the incident and videos recorded by neighbours, three of the attackers were arrested just two hours after the incident. The next morning, investigators arrested a fourth person for his involvement in the incident.
The stab wounds to the abdomen and side caused Nasraoui to lose a large amount of blood. The help of a friend and the rapid assistance of the emergency services minimised the bleeding. Nasraoui was, however, admitted in a serious condition to the Badalona hospital, popularly known as Can Ruti, where he improved over the hours.
After receiving visits from family members, including his son Lamine, the man was discharged from hospital on Friday. The incident has disrupted family life, but not the competition. Barça coach, German Hansi Flick, said that Lamine Yamal is in good spirits to play the club’s league opener against Valencia on Saturday.
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