A BRITISH pensioner has been arrested after allegedly attacking a hotel manager with an axe.
According to the 55-year-old victim Victor Alberto Barillas Hernández, the attack was launched without warning and left him with “multiple blunt force injuries”.
X/@PNCdeGuatemalaBritish pensioner is led away in handcuffs by police in Guatemala[/caption]
X/@PNCdeGuatemalaThey claim the aggressor acted on religious grounds[/caption]
The victim was rushed to the National Hospital where he remains under observation.
Cops said they were called to the hotel in the colonial city of Antigua yesterday following reports of a pensioner assaulting the hotel manager with a tactical axe.
They have not yet confirmed the motive behind the attack but claim the assailant acted on “religious” grounds.
According to initial investigations, the Brit belongs to a Muslim sect.
He allegedly told cops he was instructed by God to “eliminate” people with “certain characteristics” similar to those of the hotel manager.
The suspect was taken to police station 74 though it is not clear whether he is still being detained of if he was released on bail.
Police confirmed the case remains under investigation.
A spokesman for Guatemala’s PNC police force said: “A 68-year-old British citizen was arrested by officers from police station 74 after attacking a hotel worker with a tactical axe inside an establishment located on 7th Avenue North, in the colonial city of Antigua Guatemala.
“The assailant, identified as Robertson ‘N’, was apprehended after being identified as the person responsible for seriously injuring 55-year-old Víctor Alberto Barillas Hernández, the manager of the hotel.
“According to the victim’s account, the attack occurred suddenly and without warning, leaving him with multiple blunt force injuries to different parts of his body which resulted in him being rushed to the National Hospital where he remains under observation.
“According to preliminary investigations, the foreign national may have acted for religious reasons, as he claimed to belong to a Muslim sect and asserted that his ‘god’ ordered him to eliminate people with certain physical characteristics, similar to those of the victim.
“In light of these events, the PNC proceeded to arrest him and subsequently transfer him to the appropriate court, where he will face Guatemalan justice.
“The case remains under investigation.”
It comes as two Brit tourists were injured after being attacked with a machete in a Guatemala national park.
The pair were ambushed in 2019 just five minutes after entering Las Victorias National Park, in Alta Verapaz, near Coban, local reports claim.
Shocking pictures showed a British woman with a bandage round her head after she was sliced on the forehead.
They told firefighters that a man reportedly emerged from the bushes armed with a machete and attacked them.
Guatemalan news site Prensa Libre reports that the attacker also stole the man’s shoes.