Residents of La Huerta, just to the north of Alicante, are demanding a permanent police presence in the area from the City Council in the face of continued robberies, the latest of which saw a man and his 6 year old son attacked by two robbers with a machete.
Joaquín and his 6-year-old son will take time to forget the few traumatic minutes they spent on the eve of the 3 Kings celebration at the door of their home in Mutxamel after enjoying the parade in El Campello.
On returning to their home the pair surprised two thieves who were leaving the house. Joaquín’s reaction was to chase them in his car while taking pictures of them with the camera on his phone. The reaction of the robbers was to attack them with a 30 centimetre long machete. Fortunately they failed to open the car door or break the windshield. Fortunately the victim, who then alerted the 112 emergency services, was able to flee in his car.
The thieves also fled, but the Civil Guard mobilised a patrol to try to locate the suspects thanks to the images taken by the victim.
This latest assault is the last straw for many residents of the La Huerta de Mutxamel urbanization, who say they are fed up with the lack of security in the area and yesterday they again demanded that the City Council open a permanent police office in a nearby social centre.
Last September they presented a petition at the Mutxamel Council offices signed by about 300 people in which they called for strong measures to provide protection to residents and an end the continuous assaults and robberies of which they have suffered 23 in three months, but say that despite meeting with the mayor the only response has been a slight increase in police presence.
The residents feel “threatened” by thieves and say that criminals know that the response time of the Security Forces is 15 or 20 minutes, so they are able to carry out the assaults quickly and escape.
About a hundred residents have now established a WhatsApp group on which they report any incident in the urbanization to protect and alert others.
Image: Policia local Muxtamel
