Man in custody following brutal attack on ex-partner in Malaga province town: ‘I want her dead’

The suspect, Andrés H. A., aged around 40 and originally from Chauchina, Granada province, is under investigation for alleged offences of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

The attack happened at around 7.30pm on Wednesday 22 July. A 38-year-old woman called Rocío, was attacked just a few metres away from her mother's house as she returned home after work.

The woman lives in the house in Benamocarra with her five-year-old daughter from a previous relationship and she works in a hotel in Torrox.

According to sources close to the investigation, Rocío and the accused had been in a relationship for just three months, which she decided to end in May this year. Sources within the Guardia Civil have informed SUR that in Benamocarra there was “an incident of domestic violence; the perpetrator was arrested and remanded in custody with protective measures in place for the victim”.

The man is said not to have accepted the break-up and since then, is said to have subjected the woman to constant harassment via telephone, making threatening calls and sending threatening messages. “I’m going to see you dead; I know where you live and where you work,” was one of the threats which, according to the sources consulted, the victim received.

As Rocío was about to enter her home, the suspect is alleged to have attacked her with a large stone. The man allegedly struck her repeatedly, particularly on the head, until her screams alerted the neighbours.

The woman's mother and neighbours managed to pull the alleged attacker away and stop Andrés H. A. from continuing to beat the young woman, who was left badly injured, semi-conscious and bleeding profusely near her home.

The man fled the scene and according to sources close to the case, changed his clothes. The clothes he was wearing during the attack were later found inside a bag hanging from a tree at one of the entrances to Benamocarra, a town with a registered population of just 3,200. The stone with which he allegedly struck her in the middle of the street was also found.

Officers from the Guardia Civil and the Local Police set up a search operation and with the help of a group of local residents, located the suspect in the vicinity of the health centre to which Rocío had initially been taken. During his arrest, the man reportedly asked the officers to draw up the police report carefully so that he would spend several years in prison because when he was released, ‘he had to see her dead’.

The victim was transferred from the Benamocarra health centre to the Axarquía hospital in Torre del Mar where she required 25 stitches to her head and had numerous cuts and bruises all over her body. She is now recovering at home.

The suspect has been remanded in custody without bail.

In just seven months, six women have been killed at the hands of their partners or ex-partners in Malaga province: five women and the daughter of one of them. This is already the total for the whole of 2025, the worst year on record since statistics began in 2003. In July alone, five women were found dead as a result of violent crimes, although the case of a 45-year-old victim found in Benahavís has yet to be officially confirmed as a gender-based crime.

Among the confirmed cases are the murders of women in Alhaurín el Grande, Malaga city, Rincón de la Victoria, Mijas and Antequera. Two of the victims had previously reported their ex-partners to the police and had protection orders in place or a history of these orders being breached. Since 2003, the province has recorded 68 fatalities due to gender-based violence and 29 orphaned children – figures which once again highlight the need to identify harassment, protect victims and prevent threats from escalating into potentially fatal attacks.