A man linked to the killing of his wife in Tenerife on May 11, 2022, Ángel Martínez, appeared in court this Monday, May 8, to deny the accusations. He described nine stab wounds delivered with a kitchen knife and claimed he had also hammered nails, but slipped on a wet patio which led to the fatal sequence.
Martínez, aged 84, says he does not know who delivered the remaining eight stab wounds to the victim. He indicated that the assault began with long-bladed, round-tip scissors before continuing with the knife. After one of their many arguments, he said he called Clotilde Rodríguez, with whom he had lived for 56 years, using profanity and claiming he had given her a verbal reprimand as part of the confrontation.
The motive reported for the conflict involved Ángel blaming his partner for taking money from the bank to support his youngest daughter, who was described as a drug addict and who had allegedly stolen large sums from them to fund her addiction. The events occurred at the couple’s rented home in the Los Cristianos area, Arona, Tenerife, around 16:00 hours.
During the first court session, the jury heard Martínez’s testimony. He described a marriage marked by frequent quarrels and accused the victim of scorn, treating him as insignificant and fostering dislike from their two daughters. He claimed she imagined relationships outside the marriage and that, over more than five decades together, he had only attacked Clotilde on two occasions.
Martínez noted that he began the relationship about 58 years ago and that they married in 1961. He characterized life with his wife as harsh and said she and others in the family reflected ill on him. A relative referenced by the prosecutor, Raquel Arranz, said the daughters despised him and did not even kiss him because their mother portrayed him negatively.
He recalled constant arguments, including episodes where he felt the town should know about their disputes. He described his wife as disrespectful toward him and his mother, using insults that others denied ever being spoken. Yet he conceded that Clotilde sometimes retorted with statements about his supposed behavior, including accusations that she claimed to be a prostitute and that other family members were involved in similar lies, which she later denied.
Another source of long-standing tension involved a period when he was away fishing in Newfoundland, after which his access to work was restricted because of disputes over his whereabouts. He admitted a three-year separation from Clotilde and noted only one prior court summons related to her.
He told investigators that he had once sought help to understand his family situation, even describing a moment when he contemplated ending his life after a difficult spell. He recalled calling a nephew to say farewell and expressing feeling overwhelmed, while also recounting the time he decided to spare his wife when he remembered her during a moment of crisis.
He suggested that a desire to obtain funds from the bank arose because his wife needed money for her concerns, and he contended that she claimed not to require the money as the flat was valued around 1,000 euros. He later alleged that his wife slapped him after he criticized her for speaking about their daughter in harsh terms.
The defendant described using a pair of round-tipped scissors during the altercation and claimed that, initially, little blood appeared. He later acknowledged a struggle that forced the victim to retreat into an inner courtyard. He then said he went to the kitchen, grabbed a 19-centimeter knife, and followed her, despite first insisting the injuries were not the result of a stabbing.
deadly attack
The person involved described the fatal attack as a moment when both slipped on a wet floor, with the victim falling to the ground after being struck. He stated he saw the victim stop moving and lie face down as the events unfolded. In subsequent statements, he claimed he did not stab with the knife and argued he had defended himself, insisting he never released the knife unless necessary to finish the act.
At the opening of the hearing, prosecutors, along with representatives from a human rights institute, requested a 22-year sentence for Martínez on the private prosecution claim. The defense argued for acquittal, saying it had not been established that the accused committed the events, and described Martínez as a person haunted by the past, though noting there was no direct evidence of ongoing abuse.
By afternoon, Martínez, then eighty years old, had used the round-tipped scissors to inflict nine wounds on his wife’s neck. Failing to achieve his initial aim, he went to the kitchen, picked up a 19-centimeter knife, and attacked seven more times on the left side as the victim moved toward a patio, striking vital organs. Prosecutors argued the victim died within minutes.
Arranz argued that the attack constituted treason because the victim had little chance to defend herself, noting that the first strike occurred while she was sleeping and barely waking, in the house they shared for a few months of holidays near Los Cristianos in Tenerife.
The case continues under judicial scrutiny as the court weighs the testimonies, the physical evidence, and the conflicting accounts that have emerged during the proceedings. The defense maintains that the evidence does not establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, while the prosecution seeks accountability for a fatal act within a long, troubled relationship. [citation: Court records, Canary Islands, 2022]