Brit 'stabbed with screwdriver' in holiday hotspot after 'refusing to give cigarette'
A Scotsman was allegedly stabbed with a screwdriver by a passerby after refusing to give him a cigarette - the incident occurred in Plaza de Ayuntamiento in Valencia’s city centre
A British man has been hospitalised in Spain after reportedly being stabbed with a screwdriver by a passerby for refusing to give him a cigarette.
The victim - identified by police as Scottish - suffered a punctured lung in the alleged assault, which took place in Plaza de Ayuntamiento in Valencia’s city centre just before 4am on Saturday. A 45-year-old man, believed to have a criminal record, was arrested at the scene in connection with the incident, according to local reports.
Two police officers were called after a woman’s screams were heard by a nearby patrol. The woman, a Uruguayan citizen, had been accompanying the Scotsman when the alleged assault occurred. She told police the suspect approached the man to ask for a cigarette and when he refused, the suspect 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 Doctor Peset University Hospital in Valencia. His condition remains unknown.
It comes as a man was stabbed in the neck without an apparent motive at Palma Airport in Mallorca in May.
Spanish police said the man, in his 20s, was stabbed while waiting for his friend to arrive at the airport. The assault was described as brutal and without an apparent motive. The victim was reportedly approached by an individual, who 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 stabilised by medics and later transferred to hospital to receive specialised medical care.
A well-placed source later said the attacker had no memory of the horrific incident. They said: “The man arrested said he doesn’t remember anything. He is alleged to have gone beserk after his own phone was stolen as he was going through his bag at the airport after getting off a bus, and then going up to the first person he saw to ask him about his mobile wrongly thinking presumably it might be his."
It was reported at the time that the suspect was one of the rough sleepers at Palma Airport. The victim, an Argentinian living on the island, had gone to pick up a relative and had never met the man who nearly ended his life.