Swedish man faces up to 29 years, on trail, suspected of killing his partner in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria

The Guardia Civil arrested a Swedish man, in April 2019, in the tourist resort town of Puerto Rico, in the south western municipality of Mogán, accused of having beaten his partner to death. The woman, who was 42 years old, according to sources within the initial investigation was found dead in her apartment by a Guardia Civil patrol responding to a 112 emergency call, to ask for help at around 10 am the following morning.

The 45-year-old was arrested that afternoon on an initial charge of suspected homicide, following a forensic doctor’s determination that the injuries showed signs of criminality.

The man accused of having murdered his partner, after strangling her and giving her a brutal beating on the night of April 10, 2019 in the apartment they shared, has alleged this Monday before the Court of Las Palmas that he had drunk alcohol and that he does not know how his partner died, though he has denied ever having mistreated her, although he admits that they argued “but nothing serious.”

In the first session of the trial against Lars EA, a Swedish national, as was his partner, the defendant told the jury that both were habitual alcohol consumers and that on the morning of April 11 she was found dead, under of a blanket, which he reported to a neighbour, who was, it turns out, the one who alerted the Police and the emergency services.

The defendant faces a request by the Gender Violence Prosecutor for a sentence of 29 years in prison. Las Palmas delegate, Jesús Lomba, will try to prove that the defendeant is guilty of habitual mistreatment, injuries and murder, in a trial where the Canary Islands Institute for Equality, has also appeared as an accuser, demanding a 25-year sentence for the crime of murder.

Aggravating circumstances
The prosecutor, and the private prosecution, consider that there were aggravating circumstances of kinship, gender violence and cruelty, due to the numerous injuries suffered by the victim, as well as abuse, as she could not defend herself because she had been drinking and had a physical disability.

The Gender Violence Prosecutor has emphasised that the events occurred at home, where the Public Prosecutor also locates the episodes of abuse to which the deceased was subjected by her partner.

The defence have requested the acquittal of their client considering that he was not aware of what he was doing due to his drunken state.

Successive falls
In his statement, Lars EA has claimed that his partner’s injuries were the result of two falls she had suffered in the days before her death; one onto a glass table and another in the bathtub, due to her reduced mobility, since she had not recovered from a hip fracture that she had suffered in the autumn of 2018.

According to his account, after she fractured her hip, he had taken care of her, although the falls were frequent due to heavy drinking and because she had problems maintaining her balance; On April 11, when he found her, he “was very drunk” and says he does not know what happened, insisting that his memories are confused and he has only been able to confirm that her body was cold.

He has indicated that the night before, they had drunk together but that he does not remember if they argued and that when he woke up that day he began to drink rum, as he had habitually done for six months due to the death of his mother. He claims it is for this reason that he also began to neglect attention to the apartment, which also had no electricity because it had been cut off for non payment.

The defendant drank beers and more than one bottle of rum a day, consumed opiates and benzodiazepines, and that day he had also taken cocaine, although, he emphasised, he does not remember it.

Bumps, blood, mess and dirt
The Guardia Civil who investigated the reports declared that they found the victim on the floor of the bedroom with numerous injuries and blood. They emphasised the state of dirt and disorder in which the apartment was found, which showed signs of violence, and also stated that the defendant “did not show signs of drunkenness.”

Likewise, the report has indicated that the victim was on the floor but not because she had suffered a fall, that her death was not natural and that the defendant had two previous police incidents of gender violence.

The trial will continue this Tuesday with the statement of residents at the apartment complex where the couple resided, among other witnesses.