A 69-YEAR-OLD British man accused of killing his wife was remanded in custody by a court in Orihuela, Alicante, on Thursday (30 March). The fatal stabbing of the 63-year-old woman is the first domestic violence death this year in the region and the eleventh in Spain.
The Court of Violence Against Women number 1 in Orihuela refused bail for the man, accused of stabbing his wife during a row in the early hours of Sunday morning (26 March).
The man is being held on two charges, one of homicide and another of domestic violence. The court made its ruling after the suspect was discharged from Vinalopó hospital in Elche where he had been admitted because of a stab wound to the stomach when he was arrested.
Guardia Civil officers received a phone call from a neighbour around 4am alerting them to what was happening. They went to the house, where the couple lived together, and found the body of the woman.
The man was caught as he tried to flee the house. He was first sent to Torrevieja hospital for the stab wound in his stomach and then to the Vinalopó hospital in Elche, where he underwent surgery.
The couple had been living in Spain since 2017 and the alleged murderer appeared in the Guardia CIvil database of Domestic Violence (VioGen System) for a case that was opened in 2019 but became inactive the following year due to no further complaint by the victim, the deceased woman.
Government delegate to the Valencian region, Pilar Bernabé, condemned this latest case of domestic violence, tweeting that all the authorities would continue working in the constant struggle against gender-based violence. She joined colleagues in a minute’s silence for the victim.
Anyone who suspects a case of domestic abuse or is suffering domestic violence themself can call the freephone number 016 which is manned 365 days a year and can be attended in 52 languages. The number leaves no trace on a telephone bill, although erasing it from the call log is recommended.
The Valencia Report 