Following the discovery of his partner’s strangled body at a hotel in a Spanish vacation destination, an Irish tourist was detained on suspicion of murder.
After responding to a hotel in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou on Sunday night, police stated they had detained the 30-year-old guy. They had discovered her lying motionless in a hallway.
Her alleged killer was found next to her with a wrist wound that was apparently “self-inflicted.” He was transferred to the hospital, where he was kept under police guard today.
According to sources close to the inquiry, the tourist who was detained is Irish, just like the 36-year-old woman he is suspected of killing by strangulation.
The same sources also indicated the pair, thought to be from Dublin although this has not been confirmed by officials, were understood to be partners and were sharing the same hotel room.
He allegedly used a cord to strangle her.
A hotel worker is said to have found the victim in one of the corridors trying to escape her suspected killer, according to a local report.
Staff at the four-star Magnolia Hotel in Salou where the horror incident occurred said they were unable to make any comment.
The alarm was raised around 9.30pm last night.
A spokesman for the regional Mossos d’Esquadra police force said: ‘Officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra’s Criminal Investigation Decision in Tarragona have arrested a man allegedly related to the violent death of a woman in Salou last night.
‘The events occurred around half past nine when the Mossos received a warning from a hotel in Salou saying a woman was seriously injured.
‘When they arrived at the scene, the officers found a woman lying on the floor and a man next to her with a self-inflicted wound.
‘Although emergency medical responders tried to revive the woman, they were finally only able to certify her death.
‘Officers arrested the man as the alleged perpetrator of the death.’
The suspect is under police guard at Joan XXIII Hospital in the city of Tarragona, the capital of the province of the same name.
He is understood to have caused his wrist wound by punching or hitting a pane of glass. Well-placed sources said his injuries were not ‘life-threatening.’
Police have not officially said yet whether they are treating the incident as a ‘domestic violence killing.’
However a spokesman for the Department of Equality and Feminisms of the Catalan regional government called the Generalitat has already condemned the crime and is referring to it as a femicide.
The department said in a tweet: ‘We are keeping tabs on the femicide in Salou.
‘We are working with the town hall and making our services available to the family and close friends of the victim who need maximum privacy at these difficult moments.’
Tania Verge, the Generalitat’s head of Equality and Feminisms, added: ‘Devastated by a new femicide. All our support to the victim’s family.
‘‘Machismo doesn’t have holidays. On the contrary when couples spend more time together the risk of suffering violence increases.’
Court officials later confirmed a court specialising in violence against women would be tasked with the criminal investigation.
They also said a secrecy order had been placed over the case, which does not prevent reporting of the incident and ongoing probe, but limits the amount of information civil servants including police can give out to media.
It is a common procedure in the early stages of a case and has the objective of legally safeguarding the ongoing criminal probe.
A local judicial official said: ‘Tarragona’s Duty Court proceeded last night to order the removal of the body of a woman who suffered a violent death at a hotel in Salou.
‘The case, which is under judicial secrecy, will be investigated by a court specialising in violence against women.
‘The victim and alleged aggressor are not residents in Spain and therefore it is not possible at this time to state whether there had been previous episodes of violence involving the couple.’
Salou Town Hall will hold a minute’s silence for the Irish woman killed last night at the four-star Magnolia Hotel.
It has already put up a banner with a black ribbon on its HQ.
The town hall said in a tweet: ‘Salou Town Hall condemns last night’s gender violence incident.
‘We urge society to participate in an act of rebuke this evening at 7pm in front of the town hall.’