Rosa Peral's father is on trial for lying in the Guardia Urbana crime trial.

BarcelonaThe father of Rosa Peral, one of those convicted for the crime committed by the Urban Guard, faces a year and four months in prison for allegedly lying in court while trying to exonerate his daughter. A defendant can lie to defend themselves in court, but witnesses are prohibited from doing so. Paco Peral was tried this week for the alleged crime of false witness, for which the Prosecutor's Office is also demanding a fine of €1,800, according to the indictment obtained by ARA and ratified by the prosecutor at this week's trial. In addition, the father and daughter are awaiting another trial in which they are accused of concealing assets to avoid compensating the victim's family. The prosecution is seeking four years in prison for her and three and a half years for him.

In Wednesday's trial, the prosecution maintained that Paco Peral lied about the last time he saw the victim, Pedro Rodríguez, who at the time was Rosa Peral's partner. The date given by the witness, May 2, is the day after the early morning of the crime. Furthermore, the ruling in the case also clarified that, after Rodríguez's death, Rosa Peral used her cell phone to pretend he was still alive and try to exonerate herself. Therefore, the date on which Paco Peral last identified the victim as alive was key to pinpointing the time of the crime and clarifying the role played by his island and the other convicted person, fellow Urban Guard officer Albert López.

According to the prosecution's argument, Paco Peral lied in order to "benefit his daughter and exonerate her of her involvement in the events, as well as to shift the blame for the events to the other co-defendant," Albert López. In fact, at the trial, two Mossos d'Esquadra officers testified that when they went to visit Paco Peral to hand him some keys, he himself told them that "he wanted to tell them the truth" and that when he testified to the police, he had said that he had seen the victim alive on May 2 at his daughter's house "because she had told him to." This same statement is stated in the police report drawn up that day, but Paco Peral flatly denied this conversation with the officers.

Like all witnesses who testify in a trial, Paco Peral was warned before the trial began of the legal consequences that lying to a court can entail. The crime of false witness carries penalties of between six months and two years in prison, and can be even higher if the defendant lies against him or if the false witness leads to a conviction. Furthermore, Paco Peral had the option of invoking the waiver of not testifying, as is offered to all witnesses in a trial where the defendant is a close relative, but he declined and preferred to testify.

Trial to avoid compensation

Meanwhile, both Paco Peral and Rosa Peral are awaiting trial in another case in which they are accused of concealing assets to avoid compensating the family of the crime victim, Pedro Rodríguez. The ruling set the compensation at €885,000, which Rosa Peral and Albert López must jointly pay. According to the Prosecutor's Office, Rosa Peral summoned a notary to Mas de Enric prison shortly before her sentence became final for gratuitously transferring several assets to her father with the intention of preventing the court from seizing them to cover this compensation.

Specifically, the Prosecutor's Office is seeking four years in prison for Rosa Peral and three and a half years for her father for changing the name of his half of the house where he lived in Vilanova i la Geltrú, which would correspond to approximately €100,000, in addition to a car and a motorcycle. The trial in this case is scheduled for 2027, and in addition to the prison sentences, the prosecution is also seeking a fine of €7,200 for Rosa Peral and a fine of €10,800 for the father. The prosecutor also requested that the name changes on the house and motorcycle be annulled (the car has already been sold to a third party) so that compensation for Rodríguez's family can be paid.