Monday, February 28, 2005

Life on hold

An Australian tourist is in a bit of a bind in Spain:
A Melbourne man kept in custody in Spain for seven months says he is no closer to knowing the reason for his detention.

Adam Dalton was holidaying in Barcelona last year, when he was arrested for allegedly pushing another man in a minor street incident.

Mr Dalton says he has been told to wait while Spanish police finish their investigations.

"I have not been charged," he said.

"But the public prosecutors have put forward a minor charge of - I couldn't tell you the name off the top of my head, it's fairly complicated word and it's in Spanish - but it carries a penalty of a 300 euro fine."

"In custody" makes it seem he's in jail. If so, why would he have been told to "wait". This just doesn't make sense.

It also seems odd that the ABC reports that Dalton doesn't know why he's being detained but in the next sentence says he was involved in an incident where he pushed another man and several sentences later says authorities have "put forward a minor charge". Rounding out the oddness is the fact that, even though Dalton has been detained for seven months, he isn't concerned enough to learn the complicated Spanish word for the charge he claims not to have been charged with.

What the Hell's going on here? An earlier article in The Age clears things up a bit:

Prime Minister John Howard said today he would make further inquiries about an Australian tourist being held in Spain for an alleged assault.

Traveller Adam Dalton has called on the federal government for help after he was arrested in Barcelona last year over an alleged assault on an American tourist.

He was held for six weeks in a jail cell with a murderer and drug dealers and was released only after his family paid almost $80,000 in bail and legal fees.

He is not allowed to leave the country.


So, Dalton was arrested for an alleged assault. He was held and later released on bail. He is not allowed to leave the country.

Why does the ABC do such a poor job of reporting such an apparently straightforward story? Did ABC staff do their homework? Did Dalton mislead the ABC? Or could it be Dalton's story has gotten confused because he's not too bright.

I suspect Dalton might be a bit thick. If so, he won't be the odd man out -- remember how the Spanish voted in their last national election.

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