The Las Palmas Public Prosecutor’s Office will bring the 16 defendants in the case known as the ‚cayuco of horrors‘ to trial before a jury, where, for the first time, it will seek life imprisonment for six murders and 52 homicides, particularly for the spiritual leader whom it accuses of having instigated the whole affair.
The Investigating Judge No. 4 of San Bartolomé de Tirajana (Gran Canaria) has now concluded the preliminary investigation into the alleged crimes committed on a cayuco rescued on 24 August 2025, 439 kilometres south of Gran Canaria, when there were 251 people on board, many of whom had serious injuries consistent with torture and ill-treatment (whipping, beatings and being tied up).
On this occasion, the Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Spain has jurisdiction to try these alleged murders committed in international waters, because there are witnesses who corroborate that they were committed by the 16 people manning the cayuco including the ‚marabú‘ (spiritual guide) who allegedly directed their actions; the Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses them of forming a criminal organisation, according to judicial sources who spoke to EFE.
Gran Canaria: Spain claims jurisdiction over the Cayuco murders
Unlike the case of the alleged gang rape on a small boat, which was dismissed in Lanzarote, this time the murders are being attributed to those in charge of the vessel, which gives the Spanish courts jurisdiction to try the case, even though the events took place on the high seas and neither the victims nor the suspects are Spanish.
On Friday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed with the court the account of the alleged events on which its legal classification will be based when the judge calls upon it to formulate this; the document describes episodes of extreme violence, all supported by the statements of several survivors, who are protected witnesses.
But this time, the sources explain, the prosecution has footage recorded by the occupants of the cayuco on their mobile phones during the crossing, which bears witness to what happened, beyond what can already be inferred from the witnesses‘ accounts and the injuries sustained by many of the survivors upon reaching shore, injuries which took the medical staff at Arguineguín quay by surprise, despite their extensive experience in dealing with migrant rescue operations.
«It is the most serious case I have seen to date,» one of the parties involved in the case told EFE. The investigating judge has already decided that the case should be tried by a jury, pending the formalising of charges.
Cayuco of Horror: Prosecutors can prove 58 deaths
The exact number of people who died on the cayuco is unknown, but it is known that there were between 50 and 70, as the survivors reported that they had set sail from Senegal with more than 300 people on board. The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that it can prove 58 deaths.
Precisely because of this overload (it was comparable to the largest cayuco known to date on the Canary Islands Route, which transported 320 people to El Hierro), its voyage was fraught with difficulties from the very first day at sea, when it had to return to shore to replace the engines.
After they had been in the Atlantic for five days, the boat came to a halt, began to drift, and the chain of events that has led to it being known as the ‚cayuco of horrors‘ began.
Marabú is alleged to have instigated lethal violence on board
The Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the vessel was manned by 16 men from Senegal and one from The Gambia, with ‚clearly structured and hierarchical‘ roles. Some were at the helm, others were in charge of provisions, and the rest maintained order on board, for which they were equipped with bladed weapons, sticks and ropes. One of them has been excluded from this case because he was a minor.
The sixteenth defendant is the ‚marabou‘, whom the Public Prosecutor’s Office identifies as the person who led the group and instigated the crimes that allegedly took place, as he blamed his bad luck on people whom he claimed were bewitched or under a spell.
Sources explain that every person singled out by the ‚marabou‘ was tortured and beaten to death. Several of the victims died in this way; others were thrown alive overboard into the ocean.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office suspects that considerably more than six people were murdered, but is bringing only six counts of murder in order to focus on those cases where it believes it has sufficient evidence to prove the crime to the jury and to establish which of the defendants committed it.
The up to 52 homicides through negligence that it is considering including in its final assessment relate to the people who died of hunger and thirst whilst the cayuco was adrift.
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