Thursday, 22 January 2026, 14:48
Lutz hides among a collection of jackets and blankets, sitting on the bench in the Plaza Picasso in Salobreña, which for some time now has been his bed.
He is accompanied by his inseparable shopping trolley, where he keeps warm clothes, trainers, bottles of water and biscuits. “The street is cold,” he says.
Lutz is 76 years old, suffers from dementia and says he has already lost count of the number of years he has gone without sleeping indoors. He also says that he has recently been attacked by three young men, according to his account, who assaulted him one night.
“They hit me, they left laughing and I was left bleeding and no one helped me”, he says. Salobreña town hall has condemned the attack and said that they are looking after him “on a daily basis”, while the group of volunteers who help him complains that he has been “abandoned”.
Lutz is from of Canada, where he worked as a computer scientist for most of his life. He was on a trip to Spain with his wife when she fell ill and eventually died. Lutz fell into a deep depression and ended up living on the streets. He has been in Salobreña on Granada’s Costa Tropical for a long time and the bench on Plaza Picasso, next to Calle Juan Ramón Jiménez, has become his regular haunt.
He was there when he was allegedly attacked. He claims that he did not speak to his three assailants, they simply went after him. “They came and pushed me off the bench and, once I was on the ground, they hit me in the face. I just asked them to leave. They left laughing and I was left bleeding all night, without anyone helping me,” he says.
The town hall informed the Guardia Civil about the incident after hearing Lutz’s account, as reported to IDEAL, “They are investigating it and we know that they have asked for the cameras of all the surrounding premises to see if they can see anything,” a town hall spokesperson has said. This isn’t the first time Lutz has been attacked: according to the volunteers who help him by bringing him food and blankets, on some occasions his belongings have been taken from him.
They explain that his documents are in order, but his passport was stolen. “If he could get it back and the documents were processed, he could have a bank account, collect his Canadian pension and access some help,” say the volunteers, who describe his situation as “extremely vulnerable”.
“He is losing his mind because of dementia, he has difficulty understanding, remembering and recognising people. He needs a warm place to sleep and help with bathing, dressing… otherwise he will end up dying in the street,” they say.
Support from the town hall
When asked about Lutz’s case, Salobreña social services department reported that they monitor him “on a daily basis”.
They go on to explain that “he is not an undocumented person; the system knows his identity, his medical history and his administrative situation. This person has not been left in a situation of abandonment. He is guaranteed food and clothing. There is constant communication with the social worker at the health centre to ensure that he receives all possible health care. The showers and toilets at the municipal sports centre are available for homeless people from Monday to Saturday mornings and, on numerous occasions, transfers have been organised with the support of the local police to take them to hygiene services or medical attention”, they said.
The town hall has contacted “all the shelters in the area and in the province” and the response “is always the same: saturation of places or lack of suitability of the user’s profile due to his age and medical profile”. The sources add that “he even managed to get a place in a residence for people without resources.
However, at the time of admission, he himself refused the place, so the system put him back on the waiting list. Every time the social services appear, together with the Local Police or the Guardia Civil to offer him a transfer, his answer in front of the authorities is categorical: “I don’t want to go anywhere, I want to live in the street'”, they claim.
Due to this “systematic refusal”, the town hall has initiated the incapacitation process, which depends on the courts. “Until the court order arrives, any attempt to remove him from the street by force would be a violation of his fundamental rights. Without that order from a judge, our hands are legally tied,” the town hall sources stress. On the other hand, they detail that they have contacted the Canadian embassy. “It has been verified that he does not receive a pension and has no financial resources of his own, which exacerbates the difficulty of finding private centres”, they add.
Finally, with regard to the alleged assault on Lutz, the town hall sources have condemned it “absolutely and unequivocally” and add: “It is unacceptable that a person who already lives in a situation of extreme vulnerability should also have to suffer the fear of being assaulted. Social exclusion can never be an excuse for the impunity of violent people”, they conclude.