Protection scheme failed Maria del Carmen

AN autopsy confirmed that Maria del Carmen Marin died of 33 stab wounds, allegedly inflicted by her ex-partner.

The 43-year-old’s killer used a kitchen knife with a fine, wide blade, pathologists concluded. Ten wounds were life-threatening but only one was mortal, the report stated, and some were defence wounds. 

All contributed to the bleeding that finally caused the victim’s death, the autopsy continued, although it was “complicated” to determine the order in which they were inflicted.

Maria del Carmen was killed in Berja in August last year and the Public Prosecution department has asked the courts to examine the circumstances of the stabbing. 

The dead woman’s former partner, a 31-year-old Moroccan now remanded for the crime, had ignored a restraining order for the second time. 

He still had keys to her apartment and on the day of the murder it is claimed he hid in the entrance, waiting for her to return home. It is believed he fled after the crime but was found the next day in Dalias.

The case was raised in the regional parliament and led to an investigation by the Ombudsman after it emerged that the Interior ministry’s anti-abuse protection system Viogen failed to detect that Maria del Carmen was at risk.