A bricklayer, referred to in Spanish media as José Miguel G. C., lied during his initial police interrogation, claiming that he had not hit Nikoline Piwoni Høie with his car on July 6. A police source reports that there has been political pressure from Norway to resolve the case.
In his social media profile picture, the arrested man is taking a selfie in front of what appear to be cannabis plants.
The police have now stated that he has previous convictions for criminal offences, without specifying further.
A video clip of his white Ford van, which he posted in 2022, matches the police’s description of the vehicle they are currently subjecting to forensic examination. They are now searching for DNA evidence and fibres from Nikoline’s clothing on its smashed up front.
– The damage to the front of the van is consistent with a collision. It’s not credible that it resulted from a collision with another vehicle or an animal, a police source told the newspaper El Español.
Loaded on the four-wheel trailer in the clip, alongside other equipment, there are two poorly secured steel beams and a cement mixer.
Previous reporting: Man (46) arrested after the fatal accident that killed Norwegian teen Nikoline in Spain
The 46-year-old father of three has now been charged with failing to stop after the fatal accident. The offence carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
According to the Guardia Civil, José Migul G. C. is a resident of Calahonda, close to the spot where Nikoline Høie (17) lost her life. The police confirm, according to El Español, that he lives just over a kilometre away.
The distance from the Calahonda motorway ramp to the scene of the accident is only 800 metres.
Nikoline Høie shared the Uber car she took home with two young men, as Document was able to report on Tuesday.
The police have now reported that these men have been identified.
– The two have said that they met [Nikoline] whilst watching the football match between Norway and Brazil. They met at a bar in the Rivera del Sol neighbourhood, and as they got on well, they decided to celebrate the Norwegian national team’s victory over Brazil in Puerto Banús, says the police source.
– Bought her drinks
The two men are then said to have partied with the 17-year-old Norwegian girl and bought her drinks at the nightclub. However, according to the source at the Guardia Civil, they deny having seen her take drugs.
Nikoline Piwoni Høie pictured in Marbella with one of her friends. “She was sociable and made new friends quickly,” according to a friend. (Photo: Private)
To Norwegian broadcasting, the 17-year-old’s friends said that Nikoline was interested in feminism, justice and discrimination, and that she was keen to speak up in school debates.
– She was friends with everyone. She wouldn’t accept anyone being left out, says one of her friends. Another says that Nikoline was sociable and made friends easily.
It is believed to have been four o’clock in the morning when Nikoline and the two young men left the nightclub and set off for Fuengirola in an Uber.
The drive to the scene of the accident takes just under 20 minutes. However, as the accident happened at around 05.20, there is still uncertainty surrounding the remaining one-hour period. The police claim they are still working to establish why Nikoline wanted to get out of the car before she had reached home.
Political pressure
According to El Español, the two special units of the Guardia Civil investigating the case have come under political pressure to solve it.
The newspaper reports that Nikoline Piwoni Høie was “a prominent member of the Conservative Party in her home country” and claims that “authorities” from Norway have “shown an interest in the case”.
Nikoline was a member</ a> of Høyre in Arendal, the Norwegian Conservative Party, as well as active on the executive committee of Arendal and Grimstad Young Conservatives.
The pressure mentioned by the newspaper’s source may also be linked to the fact that several members of Nikoline’s extended family have travelled to Spain to follow up the case in person.
Contradictory account
When the police conducted their first interview with José Manuel G. C., they had already established that the car window found at the scene of the accident originated from a specific car model similar to the one that he owns. The accident is said to have occurred where the Uber driver stopped to drop her off.
José Manuel G. C. is alleged to have lied to the police about the cause of the damage to his van. He also denied having driven along the stretch of road where Nikoline was found.
However, according to the newspaper’s source in the Guardia Civil, he provided contradictory information that gave him away.
The tradesman who was arrested drives a vehicle of this type, a Ford Transit Connect. The vehicle in the photo is from 2019 and went out of production in 2021. (Photo: Rudolf Stricker/Wikipedia)
This led officers from a specialist police unit to question a female neighbour, who had seen – and (presumably smelled) – the tradesman washing his car with bleach at around 8.00 am on the same morning that Nikoline was found dead.
CCTV footage is said to show that the driver took an exit from the motorway after the accident and began driving round in circles before finally heading home again.