Irish man questioned over Marbella shooting told he can avoid jail if he pays €10,000 bail

A judge went to Marbella’s Costa del Sol Hospital today to question the 32-year-old after he was arrested earlier this week following nearly three days in intensive care with gunshot wounds to his chest.

Police made the arrest after concluding from an analysis of CCTV and other video footage at the holiday resort’s Opium Beach Club he may have been involved in the altercation that resulted in one man being stabbed and four people being shot.

Two people including the suspected gunman, a 40-year-old Dutch national arrested after treatment for his stab wounds, have already been remanded in custody.

Police are still hunting the attacker armed with a knife who allegedly attacked him after a row in a VIP area of the stage where South African DJ Black Coffee was playing to a packed crowd in the early hours of Monday morning.

A court official confirmed this afternoon after the private court hearing at the hospital: “Marbella’s Court of Instruction Number One has approved the remand in prison of the third man detained in relation to the incidents which occurred at Opium Beach Club.

“Bail so he can avoid provisionally entering prison has been set at €10,000.

“The third detainee is under investigation for a crime of aggravated wounding.

“If he does pay the bail bond, he must comply with certain conditions such as surrendering his passport and signing on regularly at court as well as a ban on leaving the country.

“The court appearance took place in hospital where the detainee remains a patient because of the injuries he suffered.

“The detainee answered questions put to him by the judge.”

The unnamed Irishman arrested has been identified locally as one of the "friends" that accompanied the knifeman to the sell-out event.

Respected Malaga paper Sur reported the two groups involved in the ugly confrontation in the VIP area, where tables cost up to €5,000, were Dutch on one side and “mostly British” on the other.

It also reported the suspected gunman’s pal who appeared in court on Wednesday had told a judge the row that ended with the stabbing and shooting started when the knifeman served himself a drink from a bottle on their table without permission.

The man suspected of shooting four revellers declined to answer any questions from the judge during his behind-closed-doors court appearance.