Victim of Alcudia attack dies after three weeks in a coma

PHOTO. A. SEPULVEDA
THE 32-year-old Alcudia chef, Gabriel Marquet Malave, who was attacked in the early hours of April 5 while out with a group of friends in the family holiday resort, died in Son Dureta Hospital where he had been in a coma for nearly three weeks.

News of the young man's death has stunned the resort which was already shocked and angered by a spate of violence that same weekend.
The first attack happened in the early hours of Saturday, April 4, and lead to the death of a young English tourist who had been on holiday in the resort - a German resident was arrested in connection with the attack.

The second, which happened just 24 hours later, involved Malave whose condition deteriorated dramatically over the past few days in Son Dureta.
Of the five people suspected of having been involved in the attack on Malave, only one is being held on remand in prison and the Alcudia community is outraged that four of the five are not in police custody.

According to the friends Malave had been out with, they were nearing the Magic bar and nightclub centre when a group of seven, the five men and two women, crossed their path.

Some of the two groups knew each other but one apparently behaved aggressively towards Malave who tried to calm the situation, completely unprepared for the now fatal blow to the head, just above the eye, he was to suddenly receive.

The 32-year-old collapsed to the ground and he was first rushed by ambulance to Inca Hospital before being transferred to Son Dureta as his condition deteriorated. During the transfer he apparently slipped into a coma and over the past few days, the severe head injuries he suffered had caused an infection to spread to his vital organs.

He died in intensive care at 3.30pm yesterday.
Both the attacks on Gaby, as he was known in the port where he worked and lived, and the English holiday maker rocked the local community and last Sunday, hundreds of friends, family, neighbours and angry residents marched through the streets of the resort in protest over the wave of violent crime which has spread across the area.

The Mayor of Alcudia, Miguel Ferrer, led the protest and backed calls for more police and more nighttime patrols in particular.
Last week, the central government delegate to the Balearics, Ramon Socias, expressed his concern over the increase of alcohol related crimes and warned that action will be taken if it continues.