The Málaga Court has imposed a sentence of 15 years in prison on a man whom a jury declared guilty of strangling his wife after she communicated her intention to divorce him, and of keeping the body buried under a concrete slab in an industrial warehouse in the Málaga capital for six months, in March 2022.
This is stated in the ruling, which Europa Press has accessed, in which he is convicted of a crime of homicide with the aggravating factors of gender and kinship, and with the mitigating factors of late confession and damage repair.
The accused was married to the victim and they had two daughters together. According to the proven facts in the ruling, the events occurred in March 2022 in the family home in Málaga capital, where a strong argument arose between them that led to a struggle.
"Guided by the intent to end her life, using his hands he tightly squeezed her neck until causing her death by strangulation," the ruling states, detailing that the victim showed marks and injuries compatible with a violent death by mechanical asphyxia due to strangulation.
To conceal the crime, the accused placed the corpse in a barrel he used at work, wrapped in a blanket and covered with plastic, transported it in a wheelbarrow to his van, and took it to an industrial warehouse he owned located in an industrial area of Málaga.
In that place, according to the ruling, he broke and lifted the concrete floor of the warehouse, buried the body along with the woman's handbag, various personal effects, and her bank, identity, and health cards, as well as those of their minor daughters, and subsequently covered it with concrete and heavy machinery before returning to his home.
According to the proven facts by the Málaga Court, "the accused argued and strangled the woman out of jealousy after she communicated her intention to divorce, with express contempt for her condition as a woman for not complying with his intentions of divorce and life in freedom."
The police investigation began after the report of the victim's disappearance. During the months she was missing, the man declared up to three times at the police station as a victim and maintained several telephone conversations with the agents in charge of the case.
Almost half a year after the events, and with the investigation already advanced, he was summoned again as a victim to detail what he did on the day of the disappearance. At the end of that statement, according to the resolution, "he collapsed."
It was then when "spontaneously he admitted that he had hit the woman who died on the spot, as well as that he proceeded to bury her under a machine, after covering the body with concrete, in a warehouse he owned," which allowed the Police to locate the corpse and close the investigation.
The sentence states that the convicted has transferred to his daughters his mortgage rights, valued at 144,328.19 euros, as payment for civil liability, transferring to them the proportional part of his home. Likewise, he has renounced any hereditary rights over the victim's assets.
These acts, along with the acknowledgment of the facts both at the police station and during the trial, justify the application of the mitigating factors of damage repair and late confession, since, although "in an untimely manner," he admitted authorship and indicated the location of the body.
At the same time, the court appreciates the aggravating factors of kinship, due to the marital relationship, and of gender, as it was proven that he killed her out of jealousy after she communicated her decision to divorce, "with express contempt for her condition as a woman for not complying with his intentions of divorce and life in freedom."
According to the reasoning of the Court, this "proves that the motive for the accused's actions was the feeling of possession over the victim, not accepting the breakup of the relationship they maintained, which implies a feeling of superiority in the accused regarding his wife."
In addition to the 15 years in prison, the resolution establishes the prohibition of approaching less than 500 meters from his two daughters and communicating with them for 16 years, as well as a measure of supervised release of ten years once the sentence is served. In terms of civil liability, he must pay 77,835 euros to each of them.