The private prosecution in the trial for the murder of a 29-year-old woman at the hands of her ex-partner in the Madrid district of Usera in 2024 plans to demand economic compensation from the State for failing to guarantee the protection of the victim, who the National Police had placed at a maximum alert level after filing three complaints for mistreatment.
The oral hearing began this Friday at the Provincial Court of Madrid with the selection of the jury and the initial presentation of the parties' theses before the members of the court.
This is the third judicial process to which the accused is subjected, who had already been previously convicted of a crime of threats and for assaults against the same woman who is now deceased. The accused is expected to testify next Monday before the jury.
After the murder of Diana, the neighbors of Usera organized gatherings to express their rejection and condemnation of the crime and to demand an increase in protection for women victims of gender violence. These mobilizations also served to support the family of the young woman and to make visible the violence she had suffered before being murdered.
The events took place in December 2024 in the victim's home. The aggressor entered her room with a knife and attacked her by surprise when she was about to sleep, causing her fatal injuries to her neck and chest that severed her carotid and jugular.
State Responsibility and Failures in Protection
The defense has announced that it will claim from the Ministry of Justice and, if applicable, from the Ministry of the Interior compensation for "not having made a proper follow-up" on the protection of the victim. In the event of administrative silence, their intention is to file a civil lawsuit against the Government.
The private prosecution maintains that the woman was classified as being in a situation of maximum police alert after reporting her ex-partner for mistreatment on three occasions, which is why it understands that there was a failure in the protective measures she should have received.
Therefore, in addition to directing the accusation against the accused, their legal representation will claim such compensations for the errors in the functioning of public protection services, considering that the necessary actions were not taken to prevent the fatal outcome.
The Public Prosecutor's Office requests a sentence of 26 years in prison for a crime of breach of precautionary measure and another of murder, the same penalty that the private prosecution requests, which adds recidivism as an aggravating circumstance of criminal responsibility. The Community of Madrid, appearing as a popular accusation, also claims that same duration of prison.
Relationship, restraining order, and deadly aggression
According to the prosecutor's written statement, the accused had maintained a romantic relationship with the victim since August 2024. The Prosecutor's Office recalls that there was a restraining order against him issued on November 22, 2024, by the Court of Violence against Women number 11 of Madrid, which prohibited him from approaching within 500 meters of the woman and communicating with her by any means.
In one of the episodes of gender violence, the woman was forced to escape through the balcony of her home. Despite being fully aware of the validity of that measure, the accused resumed cohabitation with the victim before December 30 of that same year.
The prosecutor details that around 2:00 a.m. on December 30, 2024, they both argued in the bedroom they shared due to the woman having gone out partying. When the victim was in her underwear, ready to go to bed and after having consumed alcohol, the accused decided to end her life.
To do this, he allegedly took a kitchen knife 33 centimeters long and stabbed her several times in the neck and chest, reaching the carotid artery and the jugular vein, which caused her death from hypovolemic shock in a very short time.
After the attack, the accused left the house and was arrested that same day by the Police. Two days later, the Court of Violence against Women number 6 of Madrid ordered his provisional imprisonment.
For these facts, the Prosecutor's Office demands one year in prison for the crime of breach of precautionary measure and 25 years in prison for the crime of murder, appreciating the aggravating factors of kinship and discrimination based on gender.
In addition, it requests the imposition of a measure of supervised release of five years once the sentence is served and the prohibition of approaching and communicating for 30 years with the minor child of the victim.
In terms of civil liability, the Public Prosecutor's Office is interested in having the accused compensate with 340,000 euros the minor child of the deceased for the loss of his mother and with 85,000 euros to each of the parents of the victim.