Spanish woman tries to stage suicide of her ex’s new girlfriend

A 54-year-old woman from Vigo, in northwestern Spain, was detained on Tuesday accused of the attempted murder of her ex-partner’s current girlfriend. The police believe that the suspect had planned the crime in a fit of jealousy, after breaking up with her boyfriend in February, the same month that the man began a relationship with the victim.

The alleged attacker was carrying a 19-centimeter knife, which was found in her handbag when she was arrested by the police

According to the authorities, the alleged assailant is thought to have lain in wait for her ex-boyfriend’s new partner in the latter’s apartment building. She was carrying a 19-centimeter knife, which was found in her handbag when she was arrested by the police.

When the victim arrived, the attacker forced her to enter her home by threatening her with the blade. Once inside, and using latex gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, she gave the victim sleeping pills and ordered her to take her clothes off.

She then made a series of cuts to the victim’s arms and legs, before forcing her into the bath with the faucet running, in a bid to stage a suicide. Residents who could hear screams from inside the building alerted the police to the disturbance.

A number of officers arrived at the fifth-floor apartment in Vigo, located on the northwest coast of the Galicia region, and prepared to knock the door down given that no one was responding to them. They then heard a woman screaming for help and another voice saying that she was trying to find the keys. In the end, the alleged assailant opened the door to the police. She had blood on her hands and was trying to leave the house, but the police stopped her from going anywhere.

The woman was taken to an area hospital with several deep cuts, although none of them had reached her femoral artery

The officers quickly located the victim in the bath. She advised the policemen that the attacker was carrying a knife in her handbag. The woman was taken to an area hospital with several deep cuts, although none of them had reached her femoral artery.

After the suspect was questioned in court, the judge in charge of the case jailed her without bail, on the basis that she could try to attack the victim again or destroy evidence, as well as being a possible flight risk.

She is facing charges of attempted murder and false imprisonment, according to sources from the Galician High Court. The police believe that the suspect had planned the murder by following her victim over the last few months in order to find out where she lived and what time she usually got home from work.

English version by Simon Hunter.