With his face covered by the hood of his sweatshirt and a balaclava, a man entered the home where he had resided with his ex-partner and their three children in Benalmádena (Málaga, 78,338 inhabitants) at four in the morning. With brass knuckles, he assaulted the woman and then strangled her to death. Afterwards, he set fire to the room with combustion accelerants and left the house, leaving the three minors, who witnessed the entire scene because they usually slept with their mother. The Málaga Prosecutor’s Office is now asking for 48 years in prison for him for the crimes of murder, threats, coercion, harassment, habitual abuse, arson, and child abuse against his children, two girls aged 7 and 9 and a boy aged 11. “He set her on fire,” one of them spontaneously told the first Local Police officers who arrived at the scene.
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The victim, Catalina, and her alleged killer had started a relationship in 2008, in which they had three children. And in which he “developed behaviors of control, social isolation, dominance, and subordination” over her and her children, whom he told on different occasions that he was going to kill their mother, according to the dean prosecutor for Violence against Women in Málaga, Flor de Torres. In mid-2024, they separated, and in early 2025, the woman told the National Police that “he wouldn’t leave her alone” —according to investigation sources—, after she herself called them out of fear of being assaulted.
The officers opened an ex officio complaint, registered Catalina in the VioGén System, which monitors victims of gender violence, and a quick trial was held a day later. The victim requested restraining orders, and the judge denied them, although she opened a case against the man for a minor crime of harassment, coercion, and threats.
In the early hours of February 10, the alleged killer, still with keys to the family home where he no longer resided, entered. Dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and a balaclava, he approached the room where his ex-partner was sleeping with her children. He assaulted Catalina “by surprise and without any possibility of defense” “in the presence of the minors,” according to the Prosecutor’s Office’s account. He did so with brass knuckles “shaped like a wolf with pointed ears” and then strangled her to death. He also hit his ex-mother-in-law, who also lived there and came to her daughter’s aid.
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After killing the woman, he set fire to the bed where the body lay. The flames spread because he soaked the area with accelerant substances. Then, he left, leaving the victim’s mother and her three children, who had witnessed the entire scene. Later, he himself called 092 to report the fire. And when the firefighters arrived, they found him in the area. “The woman is in there,” he warned them. A little later, two Local Police officers from Benalmádena also arrived. And the 11-year-old son told them: “He killed my mother. He set her on fire.” “Please, don’t let him find out, or he’ll kill me too,” he warned them, as stated in the Málaga Prosecutor’s Office’s indictment.
The prosecutor requests 48 years in prison for the aggressor for these acts. 25 of them for a crime of murder in the context of gender violence with treachery and 15 for arson, in addition to three others for a crime of habitual abuse and three more for child abuse. The rest correspond to the crimes of threats, coercion, and harassment. She also requests a restraining order of one kilometer and a prohibition of communication with the children and their 35-year-old grandmother.
The 016 helpline assists victims of gender violence, their families, and their environment 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 53 different languages. The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be deleted from the device. You can also contact via email 016-online@igualdad.gob.es and via WhatsApp at 600 000 016. Minors can call the ANAR Foundation helpline 900 20 20 10. In an emergency, you can call 112 or the National Police (091) and Civil Guard (062) numbers. And if you cannot call, you can use the ALERTCOPS application, which sends an alert signal to the Police with geolocation.
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