- EDITIONS: Spanish News Today Murcia Today Alicante Today
Date Published: 09/11/2021
ARCHIVED - Woman callously killed by ex-partner, a known abuser, in the Campo de Gibraltar
Thousands of people have turned out to pay respects to the local woman, who leaves behind three children
A woman was tragically murdered this past Sunday in San Roque by her ex-partner, in an extreme case of domestic violence. The 37-year-old victim, identified simply as María Isabel M.M., was a popular local resident who worked at the Plum Cake café in town, and had been separated from her alleged murderer for at least two months.
Vicious domestic violence killing
The incident took place in the Cádiz town in the early hours of Sunday morning in the house in the La Alcaidesa urbanisation where the deceased lived.
María Isabel was reportedly approached by her ex-partner when she was returning to her house after spending the whole day out to find him waiting for her outside her home. At the time, her two young daughters, aged 7 and 8, were with their father, and her eldest son, a 16-year-old boy, was with his father.
The Guardia Civil arrested the alleged perpetrator when he was trying to throw himself from the top floor of a hospital in the neighbouring town of Los Barrios. The police were alerted to his whereabouts by his sister-in-law, after he had called his brother to confess what had happened. He is currently being held at the Algeciras Guardia Civil headquarters, awaiting trial.
The suspect was not registered in the Integral Monitoring System for Gender Violence (VioGen System), which reports abusive partners, although he had had two other complaints made against him in 2014 and 2017 for domestic abuse by two different ex-partners.
The deceased victim, meanwhile, had previously reported two of her other ex-partners, the fathers of her three children, for aggression.
A beloved mother and neighbour
The town of San Roque has come out in force to show its love for María Isabel, holding a vigil for her yesterday and observing a 4-minute silence. Three days of mourning were officially announced by the town hall, and local observers at last night’s memorial service spontaneously held up lighters and the lights on their phones in a farewell gesture.
Today, as her coffin was carried through the streets to lay her to rest at the San Miguel de San Roque cemetery, people on the street broke into impromptu applause in honour of a local lady they knew as “a working woman who loved her children and always had a smile at work”.
The government subdelegate in Cádiz, José Pacheco, stated that “this murder is a failure of society” and encouraged everyone to report domestic violence wherever it occurs.
Images: Ayuntamiento de San Roque
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