Man who stabbed private hire driver to death in Fuengirola was subject to an order banning him from the area, but it hadn't been served

The man who stabbed a private car hire (VTC) driver to death in Fuengirola last week had a restraining order against him which was supposed to prevent him from being within 300 metres of the location where he committed the crime.

The order was aimed at protecting a local resident he had allegedly been harassing and was issued by a judge 14 days before the murder on 22 June, but the Local Police had not yet notified the aggressor of the order.

As SUR has learned, the alleged murderer, Adrián (34) was considered a troublesome neighbour among the community of the building in Calle Burgos street, where he stabbed the Bolt driver, Ismail, to death.

Adrián had allegedly become so "obsessed" with his neighbour, she had been forced to undergo medical treatment for two years due to anxiety attacks caused by the ongoing harassment.

The woman who lived almost next door to the detained man, reported him four times and asked the court for a restraining order. In March, a judge at Fuengirola Magistrate's Court issued the protection measure, but with just a minimum distance of ten metres. The woman's legal representation, Lucena Lawyers, appealed the decision and argued the distance did not guarantee her protection.

The matter ended in an appeal to the Provincial Court in Malaga, which agreed with the Prosecutor's Office and the victim, and ordered that, "as a matter of urgency", the accused be prohibited from approaching the victim and her home, according to court documents seen by SUR.

The judge modified the initial order and established a minimum distance of 300 metres, and it was reissued on 7 June and notified to the young woman's legal representation the following day.

The restraining order obliged Adrián to move, as his home is next to the woman's. But he continued to live there, unaware of the judge's decision. The victim's lawyers even filed a writ on 19 June - on Monday last week - requesting the magistrate to order the police to enforce the restraining order.

'Real danger'

In the document, the woman’s lawyers said that the victim was still "exposed to the real danger that the presence of the defendant poses", since "he is not subject to any medical control".

The victim's lawyers pointed out that in recent days the police had had to go to the building on several occasions at the request of the complainant and also of other neighbours due to the "altercations, noise and nuisance" caused by Adrián.

During these incidents, the young woman apparently reminded the police of the restraining order, but she claims that they replied that they could not do anything, according to the document.

Three days after the lawyers presented the document, Adrián, who had been drinking alcohol with his girlfriend in the house, requested a private hire vehicle (VTC) through the Bolt application on his mobile phone.

Bolt sent a first driver, who noticed Adrián's aggitated state and did not stop. The second driver was Ismail, a 44-year-old Moroccan migrant who Adrián allegedly stabbed more than 30 times.

That same Thursday, the court notified the lawyers of the young woman of a report from the Local Police in which the officers claimed to have gone to the house to notify Adrian of the restraining order that would have prevented him from being there that night, but they did not find him at home.