A man from the United Kingdom has been hospitalized in Spain after an alleged attack where he was stabbed with a screwdriver by a passerby for refusing to give him a cigarette. The victim, identified as Scottish by the police, suffered a punctured lung during the incident that occurred in Plaza de Ayuntamiento in Valencia’s city center early on a Saturday morning. An arrest was made at the scene involving a 45-year-old man with a reported criminal background.
The assault was reported after a woman’s cries were heard by nearby police officers. The woman, a citizen of Uruguay, was with the Scottish man when the attacker approached asking for a cigarette. When the request was denied, the assailant allegedly stabbed the victim with a screwdriver.
Reports described the suspect as having “altered mental faculties.” The victim was taken to Doctor Peset University Hospital in Valencia, and his current condition is undisclosed.
This incident follows another violent attack at Palma Airport in Mallorca, where a man in his 20s was stabbed in the neck without an apparent reason while waiting for a friend. The assault was sudden and brutal, with the attacker approaching the victim under the pretense of asking about his phone before stabbing him.
The assailant was swiftly apprehended at the airport, while the victim received immediate medical attention from SAMU 061 paramedics. He was stabilized on-site and later transferred to a hospital for specialized care.
A reliable source mentioned that the assailant claimed to have no memory of the attack, attributing it to a perceived theft of his phone that led to a misunderstanding at the airport. The attacker reportedly had been one of the homeless individuals residing at Palma Airport. The victim, an Argentine resident of the island, was at the airport to pick up a family member and had no prior interaction with the individual who carried out the violent assault.
