British man held over La Cala death is bailed

A judge has granted bail to a British man who was arrested over the death of a doorman at a well-known restuarant in La Cala de Mijas. José Rafael Pisani Pardo died after reportedly being struck when he tried to break up a fight at Olivia’s in Mijas Playa last weekend.

The suspect, a 32-year-old British national, was held on Tuesday and is still under investigation, reportedly for manslaughter. Sources also said the two men knew each other and SUR has learned both worked as personal trainers on the Costa del Sol.

The Fuengirola duty judge has withdraw the man’s UK passport and obliged him to sign in at court regulary. Sources added that the person under investigation has a known address in Spain.

Guardia Civil officers who are handling the investigation have the video recordings from security cameras at the restaurant as well as other images captured by eyewitnesses of the origin of the brawl. From these videos and also from the witness statements collected, the investigators have started to reconstruct what happened.

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The initial findings indicate that the alleged attack occurred around 12.30am on 16 April during a fight between restaurant customers. Pisani intervened in the dispute to mediate and tried to restrain the suspect, but he wriggled free of him and allegedly punched him on the chin. The doorman fell backwards, knocked out by the blow. Pisani was left unconscious and was rushed in a critical condition to Malaga’s Regional hospital, where he was admitted straight to the intensive care unit (ICU) with severe head trauma. He went into a coma that same morning and died a few hours later.