Sentencing has been announced for the murder of Carmen Romero, a 19 year old girl from Rute in Córdoba

Sentencing has been announced for the murder of Carmen Romero, a 19 year old girl from Rute in Córdoba who died in 2009 three years after two blasts from a hunting shotgun left her confined to a wheelchair. El Mundo newspaper reports that it was considered proved at the trial that she died as a consequence of the injuries she had suffered in September 2006: serious injuries to one of her kidneys and she was left paralysed from the waist.

Her ex boyfriend immediately gave himself up to the Civil Guard after the shooting and, until Carmen’s death, was being held on remand for attempted murder. The charge then became murder and Manuel García was found guilty at his trial by jury on April 16 this year.

This Monday, he was sentenced to 18 years in prison, reduced from a possible 20-year sentence on the consideration that he had immediately confessed to the shooting on September 12 2006, the day after Carmen had ended their relationship. It’s understood that the four years he has served on remand will be deducted from the total sentence.

The man who lent him the shotgun, Manuel Roldán Caballero, was given a sentence of 15 years in prison as a ‘necessary collaborator’ in the crime.

Both men have been issued a distancing order banning them from approaching the victim’s family for more than 20 years, and must each pay 300,000 € in compensation to Carmen’s parents.