A Moroccan national has gone on trial on the Spanish island of Mallorca, accused of attempting to murder a stranger by cutting his throat with a serrated knife in an early-morning attack in the Son Gotleu neighborhood of the capital, Palma.

Prosecutors are seeking a 14-year prison sentence and more than €20,000 in compensation over the November 2024 attack, which left the victim with a wound to his neck measuring nearly 15 centimeters.

The trial opened at the Palma Provincial Court on Monday but was delayed until June 22 after two key witnesses failed to appear, despite having been formally summoned. The defendant is expected to testify at the end of the hearing, at the request of his defense.

As reported by Ultima Hora, the alleged victim told the court he had been outside his home on Tomás Rullan Street at around 4 a.m. when he was attacked from behind.

“I was outside my home talking on the phone, leaning against my car, when someone suddenly came up behind me and cut my neck with a serrated knife, the kind used to cut meat,” he said.

He told the court there was nobody else in the street at the time. After being cut, he tried to run after the attacker but collapsed shortly afterward.

Moroccan immigrant arrested over anal rape of autistic minor in bathroom of Spanish kebab shop

The man said he still does not know why he was targeted, telling the court he had money and his phone with him at the time, but had not been robbed.

“I had money on me, I had my phone… I do not know what he was looking for,” he said.

Police officers later told the court they came across the victim while patrolling the area. One officer said they initially believed he was drunk because he was staggering, but then saw he was bleeding badly.

Spain: North African migrant breaks elderly woman’s collarbone and strangles her husband after they asked him to turn down his music

“The cut he had was very large. I thought he would not make it,” the officer said.

Police said they were given a description of the suspected attacker, that he was an Arab, and soon found a man matching it as he tried to enter a building. According to one officer, the man said he lived there and had merely gone out for a walk.

Officers said the man matched the description they had received of a heavily built suspect with a shaved head and a white T-shirt.

Spain: Moroccan migrant sexually assault 69-year-old terminal cancer patient inside Ibiza hospital

A mother and son at the scene also told police they had seen the attacker and later identified the suspect “without any doubt,” officers told the court. However, both witnesses failed to attend Monday’s hearing.

Two forensic doctors said the victim’s wound measured between 10 and 15 centimeters, but had fortunately been more superficial than first thought.

The hearing is due to resume on June 22.