Danger
A man ended a courtroom statement with the remark, “I love him and he loves me too,” during a hearing about a restraining order. The prosecutor’s office faced scrutiny over an alleged attempt to kill his partner by setting her Alicante home on fire the previous year, urging a sentence that could reach up to one and a half times the baseline for the cited crimes, potentially totaling 25 years in prison. In the session held in the First Division of the Alicante Court on Wednesday, the victim partially withdrew initial charges and also dropped private prosecution, though her sister and brother-in-law confirmed the threats the day before the fire, saying, “I will burn you alive; I will burn the house down while you’re there.”
The case describes a two-year relationship between the defendant and the victim. Even though a suspension order was part of a settlement, the couple had been living together in Alicante at the end of June 2022 when the events unfolded. On the prior year’s June 21, the accused allegedly struck the woman in the face, fracturing her maxillary sinus and inflicting additional injuries, according to the prosecutor. In yesterday’s hearing, the defendant claimed the facial blow happened accidentally when he elbowed her while attempting to take her home from a bar. The woman testified that she had poked him with a finger during an argument.
A week later, on June 29, the defendant is said to have threatened to burn her alive. The following day, her cell phone was stolen. The couple then allegedly tried to force entry that night. The assailant reportedly pushed paper through the door lock and set it on fire. A burning object was also hurled from the dining room window, and the sofa caught fire in the process.
The fire spread through several rooms of the home. The victim and her two dogs had to take shelter from the blaze, and firefighters eventually rescued them.
Danger
Public prosecutors described the fire as a danger to residents on upper floors who faced heat, smoke, and toxic gases. In response, they seek prison sentences of up to 25 years. The charges include two counts of violation, one count of injury, one count of threat, one count of petty theft, arson, and consideration of attempted murder as an accompanying offense. The defendant denied starting the fire and stated he did not threaten to burn his partner while she was inside the home. He admitted violating the restraining order by living with his partner and suggested that others with debts for drugs might have caused the fire.
The victim, who had initially retracted some accusations, later stated, “I’m not afraid,” and testified that she was furious at the time. While she previously told police that he had threatened to burn her alive, she later said in court that she did not recall making that claim.
The sister and husband of the victim testified that they were present when the accused allegedly told the victim he would burn the house while she was inside. A nurse who attended the case also reported that a firefighter contacted her by phone to convey alarming information. The brother-in-law recalled that the accused called him on the morning of the fire and said, “Make a huge mess,” urging him to take the accused to Elche.
A note about evidence described a partially burned scrap found by the National Police inside a hole drilled into one of the door locks of the victim’s home. The sample reportedly contained the defendant’s DNA and investigators claimed it had been inserted from the outside to seal the hole, yet had been set on fire. An officer testified that the flame would have burned out as oxygen levels dropped, and the prosecutor noted that the victim would have faced serious risk if she had not had access to an inner courtyard to seek shelter.