A man convicted of violently robbing a couple of tourists in Las Verónicas in the south of Tenerife has had his three-year prison sentence upheld on appeal.

The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz rejected the main arguments put forward by the man's defence and confirmed the sentence for robbery with violence.

The attack happened at around 2:00am on 28th August 2025, when the couple were returning from the Veronicas strip in Playa Las Américas.

According to the court ruling reported by EFE, the defendant approached the couple unexpectedly from behind while using a skateboard.

He struck the man before taking the woman's handbag, which contained a mobile phone and bank cards.

The court found that the attack was carried out aggressively and with the intention of harming the victims.

Both tourists fell to the ground after being pushed, and the defendant then went towards the woman to take possession of her handbag before attempting to escape.

The male victim managed to restrain him during the confrontation.

However, the defendant subsequently broke free and fled. He was later located at an establishment in the area, where he was identified by the victims and by a hotel employee who had witnessed what happened.

Appeal rejected

The man's defence appealed against the original conviction on several grounds.

Among its arguments was that the original judgment had not adequately reflected a change in the conclusions of the Public Prosecutor, who had requested that the prison sentence be reduced to two and a half years.

The defence also challenged the reliability of witness testimony, arguing that there were significant contradictions and insufficient external evidence supporting their accounts.

The Provincial Court rejected those arguments.

Judges concluded that testimony given by witnesses, including police officers, consistently identified the defendant as the person responsible for the robbery.

The court considered the original assessment of the evidence to be logical, reasonable and sufficient to support the conviction.

As a result, the three-year prison sentence for robbery with violence remains in place.

The court did, however, accept part of the appeal concerning penalties imposed for two offences of causing injury, reducing those fines by half.

Compensation remains at €440 for the woman and €330 for the man, in addition to an amount to be determined for the value of the stolen property once the judgment becomes final.

Las Verónicas is one of the busiest nightlife areas in the south of Tenerife and is particularly popular with foreign holidaymakers staying in Playa de Las Américas and surrounding resorts.

The nationality of the victims has not been reliably established in the available court reporting, so Canarian Weekly is not attributing a nationality to them.