Manuel Barrera

Barrera Found Guilty of Threats to Kill

The ex Deputy Mayor of San Fulgencio, Manuel Barrera, who was ousted from his position following an alleged corruption scandal late last year, has been found guilty of threatening to kill his former colleague, Mark Lewis. A judge in Orihuela ordered Barrera to pay a fine of 90€. The denuncia was made by Mr Lewis against Mr Barrera on January 6th this year, following a confrontation in the street whilst he was talking to a friend.

According to the court papers, Mr Barrera stopped his car adjacent to where Mr Lewis and his wife were chatting to their friend and made a gesture with his finger going from one side of the neck to the other, indicating that he was going to cut his throat and implying that Mr Lewis’ life was in danger. A guilty judgement was passed and a fine of six euros per day for 15 days was handed to Barrera by the judge but a request for 600€ damages by Mr Lewis was rejected.

Melodramatic

At the time of the offence, Mr Lewis and his colleague, the late Mick Blake, who sadly passed away two weeks ago, alleged that Barrera had contacted them soon after he had been released from prison following his arrest and pleaded with them to resign so that new councillors could be introduced and therefore, according to the law, could instigate another ‘Mocion de Censura’, which would oust the present governing council.

Mr Lewis commented at the time; “He was so melodramatic. He shouted, ‘I am Jesus Christ and they are crucifying me’. I made the decision not to sign anything until after the AIM association meeting that was due to take place the following Friday.” Mr Blake also made that decision and it was that which resulted in the threats of violence.
The Secretary of AIM, Dee Bray, told RTN; “We have witnesses who heard Barrera tell us that if Mark and Mick didn’t resign, he would tell the police that he had given them the 5,000€ that he had received during that now infamous meeting in Valencia.”      

Court

Mr Blake had said; “He went absolutely crazy when we said that we would not resign. He said, ‘Today, you two b******s have destroyed AIM and you are both dead.’ We denounced him the next day.”

Yesterday, as RTN went to press, Mr Barrera was in court again over other charges relating to accusations made against him earlier this year. Round Town News will have all the details in next week’s paper, so make sure that you pick up a copy.