A popular jury has unanimously declared guilty of murdering Wafaa Sebbah, a 19-year-old girl, with treachery and cruelty in November 2019, whom he tortured by shooting her with a BB gun and stabbing her, attacking her sexual freedom and then He threw her body, while she was still alive, into a well on a family farm in the Valencian town of Carcaixent. He has always defended that he did it accidentally, that it was an “accident” and a “misfortune.”
This is clear from the , one day after the presiding judge of the court gave him the object of what they had to elucidate to determine El Tuvi’s responsibility in this crime, based on more than 30 questions. The accused listened to the verdict with his head completely bowed.
The jury – made up of five men and four women – has not appreciated the mitigating circumstances of mental disorder, alcohol and drug consumption claimed by the defense, exercised by the lawyer Vicente Benavent. In addition, he has asked that neither benefits nor a pardon be applied to El Tuvi.
Tuvi is now facing, as requested by the Prosecutor’s Office and private accusations, a crime of murder with treachery and cruelty and another eight years in prison for a crime against sexual freedom with the aggravating circumstances of gender and racial discrimination. In addition, they request compensation of 230,000 euros for the victim’s parents and 87,000 euros for the siblings.
On the other hand, the defense demanded five years in prison for a crime of homicide with the mitigating circumstances of mental disorder, alcohol and drug consumption, repentance and confession. He has expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict and has stated that he reserves the appeal to the Supreme Court. First, it will be the Court that sets the corresponding penalty.
After the verdict was read and once the case had been heard for sentencing, one of Wafaa’s brothers shouted at El Tuvi: “I hope you rot in jail, murderer!” The rest of the family members have also directed different expressions to David. The victim’s mother thanked the jury and exclaimed: “Now you can finally rest, my daughter!”
Cruelty, treachery and hatred
The jury – very thorough with the verdict, since it has gone so far as to clarify two of the questions asked to clarify that the house in which the events occurred was no longer property of El Tuvi’s family and has corrected the registration of his vehicle – , the crime against the sexual freedom of the victim, sexist domination and hatred for his race, of Algerian origin.
The jury has proven that El Tuvi, 29, and the victim, 19, were friends and met up on occasions, generally with a group of friends, to go out and do leisure activities together. At a certain point, David “developed interest” in Wafaa and made different sexual propositions to her, although he was always rejected. As a consequence, El Tuvi sent her messages with derogatory content, with contempt for Wafaa’s racial identity and her status as a woman:
“You and all the Moors”; “Hesitate your fucking mother”; or “And the blackberry to the river.”
On November 17, David picked up Wafaa in Carcaixent, near his home, and they both moved to one of the two farms owned by the young man’s family, isolated and located far from the urban center.
David, that day, “with the intention of engaging in some type of sexual conduct with Wafaa” – as the jury has proven – took off her pants, shirt and panties and tore her bra. Next, he shot him up to seven times with a BB gun with the intention of causing him pain and unnecessary suffering.
In addition, he stabbed him up to three times, at least one of them in the back with a sharp weapon that has not been found. And in order to prevent the victim’s resistance and enable him to defend himself, he tied his wrists and forearms in front of his body with brown duct tape. The purpose was, according to the jury, “to cause Wafaa humiliation and unnecessary, slow and continuous suffering.”
Then, to hide his actions, he took American adhesive tape and wrapped Wafaa’s skull, with total occlusion, making it impossible for him to see or breathe. Next, he moved the victim, “in order to facilitate his impunity, to a family home located in Carcaixent, he tied a braided rope and, as ballast, a hoe to her right ankle, and threw her into a 16-meter-deep well. length.
Wafaa died as a result of mechanical asphyxiation due to complete occlusion of the upper airways that caused acute respiratory failure. It is not ruled out that the cause of death was due to visceral and/or blood vessel damage resulting from stab wounds.
The body, in an advanced stage of putrefaction, was located around 5 p.m. on June 17, 2021 on the Carcaixent farm. The body was wearing a black jacket, a cut-off bra and was not wearing underwear, no T-shirt, pants or sneakers. These clothes were separated from the remains of the body inside the well, except for the shirt.
“Sensations of power and control”
All these acts, the jury concludes, were carried out by David “as an expression of his superiority and domination over the woman, and by allowing her to experience, when carrying them out, sensations of power and control over Wafaa, treating her as a mere object and moved also because of the contempt for racial identity.”
El Tuvi has been sentenced this year to three years in prison for trying to strangle an ex-partner of his in 2020 and another 10 months in prison for breaking the restraining order he had against her.
On the other hand, he is also being investigated in another judicial case for the murder of Isabell Elena Raducanu, a six-year-old pregnant woman, in the Valencian town of Xàtiva, a crime that took place a few months before Wafaa’s death, in June 2019.
