On April 28 last year, 50-year-old Miquel Binimelis beat his 82-year-old mother to death and then burned her body on a bonfire at their property in Manacor. He also murdered his 56-year-old brother Martí, who had a mental disability and limited mobility, by repeatedly striking him on the head and other parts of his body. Miquel had intended to drag Martí to the bonfire as well but was unsuccessful.
At the time of his arrest, he told the police that he had performed an exorcism. The prosecutor in the case doesn't consider him to be criminally responsible. He had suffered a psychotic episode, a delusional disorder brought about by excessive use of cannabis.
Nevertheless, the prosecutor is requesting that he be confined to a psychiatric hospital for a total of 54 years and that he pays his sister €50,000 in compensation for the deaths of her mother and brother.
The exorcism was to have been of the whole property and not just of his relatives. He had set fire to a row of cypress trees, which was what had alerted the emergency services. When National Police officers arrived, he threatened them: "If you come in, I'll kill you."
When they did enter, he ran towards them with a burning stick and threw it at one of the officers. He also threw stones and tried to hit the officers with a sheet of metal. Pepper spray was used to subdue him.