Cristina, the victim of the alleged gender-based murder whose body was found in a well in Rincón, went missing at the end of March

He was listed on the VioGen system after having been reported for abuse by several previous partners, as confirmed by SUR.

Cristina, the victim of what all the evidence suggests was a crime of gender-based violence, never reported him. The 35-year-old mother of one daughter also appeared in the system for alleged abuse in other relationships.

She had been missing since the end of March, as stated in the alert issued by the National Centre for Missing Persons (CNDES), which had appealed to the public for help in locating her. Late on Wednesday, organisations such as SOS Desaparecidos updated the alert to report the tragic outcome.

The search for Cristina ended in the worst possible way. The government’s representative in Malaga, Francisco Javier Salas, has expressed his strongest condemnation following the woman’s tragic death, as her case is being investigated as a gender-based murder. For the time being, information is still being gathered about the crime to clarify this point.

The victim’s body was found mid-morning on 1 July in a well on a rural estate, some 200 metres from junction 968 of the A-7, near Rincón de la Victoria, according to sources. The judicial authorities were immediately notified so that the body could be removed; to this end, a duty judge, a court clerk and a forensic pathologist were called in.

The results of the post mortem examination will shed more light on the cause of death but, as well as the stab wounds, her body showed signs of drowning.

The investigation began following the victim’s disappearance at the end of March, which led the family to report that she was missing and that it was impossible to contact her. As a result, police investigations on Wednesday led them to Cristina’s partner, who reportedly broke down and eventually confessed to the murder.

In addition to the boyfriend, two other people were also arrested, “one of them for alleged involvement in the crime and the other for drug trafficking”, according to the government’s representative. “We must continue to fight against the scourge of violence against women; gender-based violence has no place in our society,” he lamented.

The events have led to the launch of a joint investigation by the Guardia Civil and the National Police to try to establish what happened, as confirmed by both forces. The results of the post-mortem examination, which is being carried out at the Institute of Forensic Medicine (IML) in Malaga, will be key to shedding further light on how the events unfolded.

If it is confirmed as a gender-based crime, it would be the third in the province of Malaga so far this year. The first took place in January, in Alhaurín el Grande. Victoria, a 33-year-old British woman, was murdered by her ex-partner in front of her three children, all of whom were minors, in her own home. She had reported him to the police and had a restraining order in place.

He didn’t care. Following the attack, the alleged perpetrator went to Alhaurín de la Torre prison, where he asked to be arrested because he had done ‘something very bad’. He did not give many details. “That he’d grabbed a knife”, “that he’d gone mad” and “that he’d stabbed the mother of his children, but that he didn’t know if he’d killed her”. Since then, he has been in prison awaiting trial.

The second incident took place at the beginning of last month, and the victim shared the same name as the first, Victoria. She was 51 years old and was allegedly shot by her husband, Francisco, aged 56, who then took his own life at their home in Palma-Palmilla, in the city of Malaga.

There was no history of gender-based violence in this case. The woman was well known for her strong involvement in the neighbourhood, for being a hard worker and for being very devoted to her family (she had two children and three grandchildren). She also worked as a cleaner at the San Juan de Dios Care Centre.