Security guard faces murder charge after fatal stabbing at shopping centre in Spain

SECURITY guard Rafael Pantoja has been charged on suspicion of murder after his ex-partner was stabbed to death at a shopping complex in Palma, Mallorca.
Sacramento Roca Martinez, 36, died last Friday afternoon after being stabbed four times in the chest at the Conforama shopping complex on Calle Aragon in Palma.
One of the wounds is believed to have gone straight through her heart.
The centre employee was allegedly fatally attacked by Pantoja, 45, at the checkout at around 4.45pm.
Ambulances and paramedics were quickly on the scene, but the mother-of-two was pronounced dead 15 minutes later.
Pantoja was reportedly chased and stopped by a group of people who included an off-duty Llucmajor police officer and a fellow security guard.
Pantoja, who has two teenage children from a previous relationship, was arrested and taken into custody, before being admitted to Son Espases Hospital after he is said to have self-harmed in a police cell.
He was sedated and discharged two days later to appear in court where he was ordered to prison on the charge of murder.
Well-known among the security guard fraternity, Pantoja has worked at the courts in Palma and at Marratxi festival park.
It has been reported that his motive for the assault was to end his relationship with Sacramento.
A minute’s silence in memory of Sacramento was observed at the shopping complex on Friday, Palma Town Hall, and the Balearic government’s Consolat de Mar headquarters, while hundreds lined the Passeig Born carrying banners and calling for an end to violence against women.