One in every five murders in Spain this year were women killed by their partner or ex

One in every five murders committed in Spain during the first three months of 2020 were cases of domestic violence.

ACCORDING to the crime report for the first quarter of the year published by the Ministry of the Interior, which Europa Press has had access to, there were 84 killings recorded by the State Security Forces and Corps from January to March.

And 17 of the victims were women were murdered by their partners or ex-partners, according to the official statistics of the Government Delegation against Gender Violence.

Deaths due to gender violence committed in the first quarter represent 20.3 per cent of the total.

In 2019, from January to March, 76 murders were recorded, of which 14 were women killed by partners or former partners, 18.4 per cent of the total.

So far this year, 18 women have died at the hands of a current or ex-partner, seven took place in January; six in February; four in March; one in April; and, so far, none in May.

The report highlights the fact that of the 18 victims so far in 2020, “only two have died since the coronavirus pandemic alert was declared” on March 14 ato May 14.

This means there have been two official crimes of gender violence in almost two months, compared to 16 in the two and a half months prior to State of Alarm.

According to last year’s official record, during the same period in 2019 – March 14 to May 14 – a total of eight women were killed in domestic violence incidents, four times more than this year.

However, in an interview with Europa Press, the former Government delegate for Gender Violence, Miguel Lorente, warned that once the State of Alert and compulsory confinement are over, “murders and serious aggressions due to gender violence may increase”.

He said the “apparent decrease in serious cases and murders that have occurred under the current limitations, could translate into a subsequent increase when the circumstances change and women are facilitated to leave the violence, so the risk at that time will be higher”.

Lorente warned that during quarantine “the abuser has a greater perception that he has control over the woman, thus, once this period of confinement is over, the abuser will feel a loss of control over her, which translates into greater risk”.

The official register of deaths from gender violence, which has been compiled since 2003, now totals 1,051 female victims.