Suspect admits to attacking five in Lleida

THE attacker that struck fear into the hearts of Lleida admitted to the brutal assaults that left five with life-threatening injuries.

The Spanish medicine student from Logroño arrested in Lleida for stabbing five people admitted to the attack when questioned by Catalan police and claimed to have been in the middle of a psychotic episode at the time, said Catalunya Radio.

However, psychiatrists at Santa Maria de Lleida hospital ruled out the possibility that the detained suffers from a mental disorder.

On Monday September 22, Alejandro R.V., 21, went on a stabbing rampage through the streets of Lleida randomly attacking five strangers in less than an hour: a man of South American descent (26), a Pakistani (50), a man of Chinese descent (37), a Spaniard (40) and an Algerian woman (40).  He faces five charges of attempted homicide with racism and xenophobia as aggravating circumstances. He is scheduled to appear before a judge on Friday September 26.

He is also to stand trial in Logroño for an unrelated attack that dates back to December 2012, during which a Colombian national sustained life-threatening knife injuries and was beaten up to a pulp by the detained and other suspects, while they yelled racial slurs and death threats at him. One of the attackers had a swastika sewn on his clothes.

If convicted, Alejandro R.V could serve up to three and a half years in prison.