Five domestic abuse deaths registered in Iberian peninsula in just one day

As many as five people may have died as the result of domestic violence incidents on the same day in the Iberian peninsula.

Two women were murdered by their partners on Monday, one in Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga) and the other in the Catalan city of Lleida.

Also on Monday, Gibraltar police found a couple and two children dead in their home. Investigators are working primarily on the theory that one of the adults killed the others with a knife. If confirmed, this would bring the number of victims of domestic abuse for Monday to five.

That is as many as the Spanish Health Ministry had on record for the whole of 2015 so far.

However, the Gibraltar deaths will not be included in Spain’s statistics as they did not occur on Spanish soil.

ALHAURÍN DE LA TORRE

The Civil Guard found the bodies of a man and a woman inside a home in Alhaurín de la Torre (Málaga). Sources familiar with the investigation said the evidence suggests that the man killed his victim the night before and later hung himself.

The regional daily Sur de Málaga reported that the victim is a 28-year-old woman who was likely suffocated by her 40-year-old partner, who later took his own life. They had a six-year-old daughter who was staying with her grandparents at the time of the attack.

The bodies were found by relatives of the man who showed up at the house around 8pm on Sunday after receiving a telephone call that made them suspicious. The woman was lying on the sofa, while the man had hung himself with a belt.

LLEIDA

A man shot his wife in the middle of the street in the Catalan city of Lleida, and later attempted to kill himself with the same weapon. He was taken to a hospital with bullet wounds to his chest and remains in serious condition. His wife was immediately taken to hospital by her relatives and died there an hour later.

GIBRALTAR

A real estate agent rang at the door of the rental home in Gibraltar at 11am on Monday, but got no answer. He later called the police, who forced the door open and found the lifeless bodies of two adults and two small children.

Investigators said the family was made up of a 31-year-old British man, a 37-year-old Spanish woman and two children aged four years and six months, both of whom had Spanish nationality.

“We are not looking for any suspects,” a spokesman for law enforcement in Gibraltar told EL PAÍS. Evidence suggests that one of the adults killed the others with a knife.

The deceased had arrived in Gibraltar “four or five days ago” from Spain.

“In the more than 30 years I’ve been here this is the most macabre crime I remember,” said one veteran police officer on the Rock.