A SPANIARD yesterday admitted beating and kicking to death a Scottish grandfather on holiday in the Canary Islands.
Hamed Mohamed Hamed, who comes from Melilla, the Spanish enclave on the north coast of Morocco, claimed he had been drunk and under the influence of drugs when he attacked Brian Hobbs, 52, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire.
He launched the attack a
t a bar in Fuerteventura only hours after he had arrived on the island in May 2006. Mr Hobbs had been drinking and was asleep at the time.
The court heard Hamed had consumed 12 whiskies and taken cocaine before the attack and had claimed the killing would not have happened if he had not been drinking.
As Hamed admitted the crime, prosecutors accepted a plea deal and agreed to a 12-year jail term instead. Sentence will be passed in two weeks' time.
Mr Hobbs's widow, Barbara, was present in court.
Mrs Hobbs had been unwell and her husband had nursed her for many months. He went on a short break without her and because of a fear of flying had been drinking heavily.
A statement read to the court at the beginning of the hearing emphasised that Mr Hobbs in no way provoked his attacker. The victim was asleep at a table when he was attacked "without any justification and without there being any argument or provocation", said the prosecutor's statement.
During the attack Mr Hobbs was punched and knocked to the ground where he was repeatedly kicked and beaten about the head.
The full article contains 262 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
