A shirtless Adrián H.F. being taken into court on Monday. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

TW

Nineteen-year-old Adrián H.F. has been remanded in custody, charged with the homicide of 34-year-old Dutch holidaymaker Wouter Van Lujin. The accused appeared in a Palma court yesterday morning. In addition to homicide, he is also under investigation for robbery with violence; the National Police believe that robbery was the motive behind the assault on Mr Van Lujin that led to his death on Friday. There are two minor charges of driving without a licence and posing a risk to road safety. Bail was denied.

Another 19-year-old is being investigated for the same offences of homicide and robbery. He was arrested on Sunday and has been released on charges following a statement made to the police.

The police say that they have been able to make quick progress in the investigation, despite the contradictions and "multiple false obstacles" raised by the principal witness, Adrián H.F. These include the version of events which referred to his having seen four or five men attacking the Dutch filmmaker by a storage facility along the Cami de la Milana between the Son Banya shanty town and Son Ferriol in Palma.

The conclusion drawn by the police is that events took place inside Son Banya and that a wallet containing 700 euros formed the motive for the assault on Mr Van Lujin. He had gone there in order to buy drugs, having taken a taxi from Palmanova, where he was staying with his father, around four o'clock on Friday morning.

Adrián H.F. later took Mr Van Lujin to Son Espases Hospital, where he died shortly after having been admitted. The autopsy has confirmed that he had a previous condition, a cerebral aneurysm, and that the blows he suffered led to his death.