Valencia man jailed for four-and-a-half years after killing and cooking girlfriend's pet rabbit to torture her

The defendant, identified as Belahouel A., accepted the sentence at a criminal court in Valencia following a plea agreement. He was convicted of habitual domestic abuse, repeated threats, gender-based assault, animal cruelty, and violating his victim's moral integrity.

Prosecutors originally sought a 12-year prison sentence, but the court applied a mitigating factor for impaired mental faculties after medical evaluations confirmed he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

Court documents reveal that the severe abuse began in October 2021 in Montserrat, Valencia, barely a month after the couple moved in together. During a trip to La Rioja, the defendant attacked his partner with a wooden club following a dispute over her clothing, striking her across the head, face, and limbs.

The violence escalated in November and December 2021. On separate occasions, the defendant bound the victim's hands and feet, threatened to cut her throat and forced her to crawl on her knees over scattered raw rice for an hour while punching her.

The most severe incident occurred between 27 and 29 December 2021, when the defendant became enraged after his partner accidentally spat while blow-drying his hair. He bound her, held a knife to her neck and threatened to burn her alive in the fireplace and scatter her teeth in a field to prevent identification.

He then forced the victim to hold her pet rabbit by its legs while he slit its throat, telling her, "That's how you learn. This is your lesson." After the victim fled to the bathroom, the defendant broke down the door, dragged her back into the room, smeared the dead animal's blood over her face and later cooked the rabbit in an attempt to force her to eat it. He threatened to murder her mother and young son if she went to the authorities.

The victim endured further beatings in early January 2022 before deciding to pack her belongings on 16 January. When the defendant discovered her leaving, he grabbed her hair and punched her in the eye. A Guardia Civil patrol arrived at the home the following day, where a forensic doctor evaluated her injuries, prompting her to file a formal complaint.

Alongside the four-and-a-half-year prison sentence, the court imposed 240 days of community service and a 24-year restraining order prohibiting the defendant from approaching within 1,000 metres of the victim or contacting her.

The court also ordered him to pay 3,420 euros in civil compensation for physical and psychological harm.

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