Three years for a punch

David Carballo Nieto, 36, a carpenter from Rois, near A Coruña, will have to go to prison if he does not receive the partial pardon he requested after being sentenced to three years' imprisonment for deforming, with a punch, the nasal septum of a neighbor who owed him money. The very court that sentenced him, the Provincial High Court of A Coruña, acknowledged in its verdict the harshness of the penalty established by the Criminal Code for these cases. In the ruling, it suggested that he call on the government to reduce the sentence to two years and avoid going to prison.

"I am amazed at the things that happen. The laws are ill designed, and they're not the same for everybody. I get sent to jail for this and others, who have done worse things such as drug dealing, say they regret what they did, talk to the prosecutor and can go home," says the carpenter.

David Carballo's lawyers have filed the request with the Justice Ministry, alleging in his favor the court's suggestion, and the fact that he has no criminal record nor has ever been involved in criminal activity, while his income is the only means of support for a wife and two small children. "The situation worries me, because my wife still doesn't know that at any time the Civil Guard may show up to take me to prison," says Carballo, who "regrets" having got out of his car when, on August 29, 2008, he encountered the victim. "He laughed at me when I demanded payment for some aluminum tubes he had ordered from me. Now I would not have done that. I would have kept my cool."

Carballo will have to pay the victim 4,290 euros in compensation, as well as for loss of working hours and the costs of plastic surgery. "It is evident that the penalty is severe, given that the accused is not a dangerous person, and given his payment of compensation. But the law does not permit suspension of the penalty, though the concession of a partial pardon may be recommended," says the court.

"The situation of tension and conflict of interest" between accuser and accused was the motive of the incident, but the court did not attach weight to this aspect. David Carballo demanded payment of a debt for a job of aluminum carpentry he had done in the accuser's house, but the latter alleged that he had not delivered the work on time.

"Now all I want is for the pardon to go through, so I can forget about this forever," concludes the carpenter.