Foreign man arrested after married couple seriously injured during 'brutal' pickaxe attack in rural Malaga hamlet

Guardia Civil officers have arrested a middle-aged foreign man for his alleged involvement in a "brutal" attack with a pickaxe on a married couple living in Espino, a hamlet to the north of Alcaucín on the east of Malaga province and near to the border with Granada province. The victims, aged 57 and 56, are both in hospital in Malaga city in a serious condition with severe head injuries.

The assault on the rural house happened at around 7.30am on Wednesday 2 July, when the alleged assailant broke into the plot where the property is located. He had previously been spotted by local residents looking into cars parked nearby, SUR has learned.

The Guardia Civil is investigating the motive for the assault to try to clarify the circumstances in which the events took place.

SUR has learned that the man was arrested a few hours after the incident in the same vicinity. The alleged perpetrator used a pickaxe on the property, hitting the two residents. He attacked the man first who had come out of the house having spotted the man. The individual allegedly assaulted him "brutally" with the pickaxe, without saying anything.

Upon hearing his screams, his wife came out of the house to help him, but she was also allegedly attacked with the same pickaxe. It was the couple's 30-year-old daughter who managed to hide in the house from where she called the emergency services.

Due to the seriousness of the man's injuries, a medical helicopter was sent to take him to the Regional Hospital in Malaga. The woman was initially taken by ambulance to the Hospital Comarcal de la Axarquía in Torre del Mar. However, she was later transferred to the Malaga Regional Hospital due to the seriousness of her injuries. The couple's daughter was treated for anxiety and suffered bruises at the scene, having tried to fend off the man who was subsequently arrested.

Health sources have informed SUR that the man remains in a coma in the intensive care unit of the hospital. The woman has undergone surgery and is conscious.

The brutal attack on these residents of the rural village of Espino has shocked the small town of Alcaucín in the Axarquía, which has a population of just 2,700 and six smaller hamlets. Espino is the smallest of them all, with around twenty properties.