The Ministry of Equality has confirmed that Paqui, the 52-year-old woman murdered this Tuesday in Benalmádena (Málaga) by her husband, is the 51st fatal victim due to sexist violence so far in 2023 and the 1,236th since they began to be compiled. statistics in 2003.
The Government Delegation against Gender Violence reported this Wednesday that there were no previous complaints of sexist abuse against the aggressor, who committed suicide after committing the crime, so he cannot be tried for his actions.
The victim, mother of two adult children and a third minor, was murdered with a firearm in her home, the same one that the femicide used to commit suicide. In 13 of the 51 murders this year, the man took his own life after the crime, 25.5%, and another five attempted it (9.8%).
With Paqui’s youngest son, there are 428 orphans of sexist violence since 2013, 51 so far in 2023.
The victim, ten years younger than her killer, was originally from Granada, although she had been living on the Costa del Sol for some time, where she was a cleaner in a hotel.
The Benalmádena murder is the 17th that has been perpetrated this year in Andalusia, which represents 33.3% of the total nationwide. Andalusia is the autonomous community with the most sexist crimes in Spain (256 of the 1,236 in the entire country, 20.7%).
In this last case, there were no previous complaints of abuse, so the percentage of femicides this year that were not preceded by a complaint is close to 80% (40 of 51 cases).
The 51 crimes due to gender violence confirmed in the first ten months of 2023 already exceed those registered in the complete years of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
As of October 11, 2022, there were 35 women who had been murdered in Spain by their partners or ex-partners, 16 fewer than the fatalities in 2023.
The Minister of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Loles López, has condemned this alleged sexist murder on behalf of the Andalusian Government, and has indicated that the victim had not been a user of the Andalusian Women’s Institute (IAM) or the network of Municipal Information Centers for Women.
López has conveyed “all his support and affection” to the family, especially his children, and to those close to the victim. Precisely, the counselor has called on the women’s environment to “be especially vigilant at the slightest indication that her friend, neighbor, partner, daughter or sister could be suffering violence.” In this sense, he recalled that the IAM has the helpline 900 200 999, which is operational every day of the year and 24 hours a day, “which anyone can call and ask for advice on how to act in these situations.”
For his part, the delegate of the Government of Spain in Andalusia, Pedro Fernández, has expressed his “maximum condemnation” for this latest sexist murder recorded in the Andalusian community, while stating that “we must stop” the increase in cases and ” We can only do it by joining forces, condemning each case and educating in equality.”
“We cannot allow, as a democratic society, that these types of events continue to occur, that there are those who look the other way or those who try to hide it under another name of violence because only from the union of all, be they political parties, institutions, organizations and society, we will be able to eradicate this social scourge and become a society full of Human Rights,” Fernández denounced.
