31-years sought for man accused of murdering his partner

“Stop hitting me, my stomach hurts.” Rocío de la Palma O., 44, begged her boyfriend one last time before he punched and kicked her and then stabbed her 22 times, mainly in the neck, killing her in her home in l’Alfàs del Pi, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The man who is suspected of this gender-based crime, which happened in February 2024, has been in jail ever since. A jury trial is getting closer and closer after the Prosecutor’s Office filed a strong case against the victim’s spouse and asked for the trial to begin.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office is asking for a total of 31 years in prison for Juan Vicente AB. in the Benidorm Court for Violence Against Women No. 1. He is charged with one count of murder (25 years), two counts of domestic abuse, one count of threats in the context of gender-based violence (12 months for each count), and one count of habitual violence in the context of gender-based violence (3 years). Alejandro Dapena is the defence counsel for the accused in this femicide case. He will try to arrange a plea deal with the public and private prosecutors before the trial.

Compensation

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also wants Juan Vicente to pay 700,000 euros to Rocío’s two children from a previous relationship, as well as to the victim’s parents and two siblings.

The prosecutor’s indictment says that the defendant had already been found guilty of threats and abuse in the context of gender-based violence three times before. The victim was a former partner, and these past convictions will be considered when deciding whether the defendant is likely to commit another crime in the case that will be tried by a jury at the Alicante Provincial Court.

The prosecution’s indictment says that there were three instances of gender-based violence between the accused and the victim, the latest of which ended in death. The first one happened on December 27th, 2023, at the house in l’Alfàs del Pi where Rocío lived with the accused. The prosecution says that after an argument, the defendant beat his partner in the face and other parts of her body, which required her to go to the hospital.

As they drove through the streets of l’Alfàs in a vehicle on February 3rd, the victim was abused again. They got into another fight, and the defendant pulled over, got out of the car, and started striking Rocío with a PVC pipe. The prosecution says that after assaulting her, he broke the pipe and told her that if she didn’t get out of the van, he would stab her in the neck with it. A couple who were driving by helped the scared victim, and the attacker ran away.

Killing

Around 3:30 a.m. two days after everything happened, On February 6th, the accused went to the house he shared with Rocío, when they had another fight that ended in tragedy. The prosecution says that Juan Vicente started kicking and punching Rocío all over her body. Rocío begged him to stop, saying, “My stomach hurts,” but he didn’t listen. Instead, he got a knife and stabbed her 22 times, principally in the neck, with the purpose of murdering her. The attack killed the woman, and the suspect ran away, but police caught him in less than 48 hours.

The prosecution also says that he is a habitual violent person because the earlier incidents were the same behaviour that he had been doing since October 2023. The Public Prosecutor said that he “periodically belittled, insulted, threatened, and hit her in the context of a situation of dominance and superiority of the man over the woman.”

Enrique RF will also be in the dock with Juan Vicente. The prosecution says that he lent Vicente a car to drive away and told him to switch off his phone. They talked to each other through another device, and he finally told the Guardia Civil that he was in the famous Pipo’s nightclub in Cox, where he was caught.