"Savage beating" from club doorman blamed for teenager's death

The opening days of the trial in Madrid of three doormen accused of the murder of Álvaro Ussía at the Balcón de Rosales nightclub on November 15, 2008 was marked by contradictions in the suspects' testimony. The man alleged to have led the assault, Antonio Sánchez Serrano, alias Pitoño, testified on Wednesday that the 18-year-old Ussía slipped, fell to the ground and began to experience convulsions.

His two colleagues, David Sancio and David Alonso de Aubarede, who are charged as accessories, maintained that Serrano immobilized the victim when he was on the floor. "I saw a blow to his ankles and I didn't see anything else. Then I saw Antonio on top of the boy with his knee on his chest. I saw Antonio hit Álvaro," Sancio told the court.

"Álvaro couldn't defend himself. He was face up without moving"

The first defendant to testify was Sánchez Serrano, the sole defendant being held in preventive custody. He offered a different version of events to that of the prosecution, which maintains that his knee irreparably damaged the victim's heart. On the night of the incident, Sánchez Serrano arrived at work at 11pm. At about 5am, he witnessed a doorman ejecting Ussía and his friend Rafael Lebrusán.

"I saw that one of them [Ussía] was worked up and would not stop insulting people. You could see he was very drunk. At that moment David Sancio told him to leave and stop insulting people." Sánchez Serrano told the court that Ussía and Lebrusán were fighting among themselves and that the latter hit Ussía in the chest. On Thursday, Ussía's cousin, Diego Rovira, gave testimony to the contrary. "The fall was completely intentional. My cousin tried to grab Pitoño but he fell to the floor, where he suffered blows. Once Álvaro was on the floor, Pitoño bent his left knee and hit Álvaro in the chest with his right. Álvaro couldn't defend himself. He was face up without moving." Rovira added that Sánchez Serrano tried to resuscitate Ussía but he did not react.

Sancio's lawyer asked Rovira's testimony to be struck as in his opinion he had lied in his declaration. Rovira said he was "tipsy" when the incident occurred.

After Rovira's testimony, Lebrusán took the stand. He maintained that the altercation with the doorman started on the dance floor, when Ussía pushed him and he stood on the foot of the girlfriend of another doorman. This doorman, Lebrusán recounted, grabbed Ussía by the neck and with two other doormen ejected him from the club. According to Lebrusán, Ussía began to argue with the doormen and insulted them. "At that point they came at him ferociously," Lebrusán said. According to the witness, the doormen grabbed Ussía and carried him up the stairs of the club. Sánchez Serrano then placed both knees on his chest. "He was already unconscious," according to Lebrusán. The doormen then beat Ussía while Lebrusán called the police. "It was a savage beating."

A third witness, Fernando R., who did not know Ussía, told the court that several people tried to stop the doormen and that Ussía fell face up on the floor. When he tried to intervene, one of the accused said: "Get out of here or you'll get the same."