A provincial court handed down additional penalties to a man who left his partner in a vegetative state by suffocating her with a curtain in a house in Alicante. Medical teams saved the victim, but the lack of oxygen caused severe and irreversible brain injuries, leaving her unable to manage basic tasks on her own.
These grave consequences were acknowledged by the court, which ordered 625,000 euros in compensation, plus an extra 50,000 euros per year for the victim’s vegetative condition and medical care costs for the family. The court also affirmed the family’s economic claims, presented through attorney Maria Dolores Hernandez. Still, these sums are substantial for a defendant with limited resources.
The sentence granted to the accused includes nine years in prison for attempted murder, and an additional year for other injuries sustained by the victim in a separate incident. The case was brought by the agency that handles cases of gender-based violence in Alicante. Since arrest, the defendant has been held in preventive detention due to the alleged attack on the person aiding the victim at the scene.
“Mom go upstairs, it’s killing me”
The events unfolded in the early hours of August 30, 2021, when the victim called her mother during the night and pleaded, “Mom, come help me, please.” The line went dead, a stifled gasp could be heard, and police found the victim unconscious in her room, the curtain tied around her neck in two knots and wrapped tight against the wall.
The defendants and the victim had met recently while both were receiving treatment at a hospital and the Doctor Esquerdo Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center. The assault occurred as the victim began to take advantage of a temporary leave of absence, a period her family opposed because they questioned the relationship and feared its impact on her recovery.
The defendant claimed the injuries were self-inflicted in a suicide attempt. He argued that the victim had become agitated, that she drank alcohol with medications, and that their argument escalated. He also suggested the curtain was wrapped by the victim herself. Medical reports noted prior suicide attempts in the past, a theory the judges did not accept, and they determined that the injuries clearly resulted from murder.
Law enforcement officers stated that the knots could not have been tied by the victim alone. They described how a curtain can be pulled free and torn, implying that if the person had attempted to hang themselves, they would have fallen to the ground. When investigators found the victim in her room, she appeared to have been restrained and not acting to defend herself as if the events could be dismissed as a suicide attempt.
Irreversible injuries
The victim’s serious injuries left her in a state akin to a living death, requiring ongoing medical intervention. She has needed the help of physiotherapists, assistance with basic daily tasks such as eating and washing, and measures to preserve muscle mass. Although she remains under care at the San Vicente del Raspeig hospital, the family must prepare the home for eventual return and to support the ongoing care she will require.
Complicating matters, the victim’s brother had been murdered months earlier in Alicante. During the trial, it was revealed that his death affected her mental state, adding to the emotional strain faced by the family and the broader community of those who supported the victim throughout her treatment and legal proceedings.
Violent character
The victim’s family did not approve of the relationship with the accused. The mother of the defendant had a history of violent and aggressive behavior, and relatives had witnessed scenes that deeply unsettled them. The defendant claimed to have suffered psychotic and schizophrenic episodes, but during the trial, medical examiners ruled out psychiatric pathology that would lessen responsibility. The defendant provided a detailed account of that night, which the court considered as part of the evidence against him.
The investigators testified that the knots could not have been formed by the victim. They noted that a curtain can be torn with a simple pull, suggesting the victim could not have tied the knots herself. When officers found the victim, she was discovered in a state that suggested she did not act to harm herself, complicating the narrative that the incident was a suicide attempt.