The National Police arrested a man in Torrevieja on Monday afternoon, 8th June, who is under investigation for animal cruelty and vicarious domestic violence. He had previously been sentenced to five years of expulsion by a court in Torrevieja, which ordered his immediate deportation to his country of origin. The 29-year-old man beat his ex-partner’s cat to death with a broom handle and kicked it in the street last April.
Pursuant to this court order, according to a statement from the National Police, the individual was arrested in Torrevieja. His deportation will take place in the coming hours to ensure the sentence is carried out. The judge of Court Number 4 of the Criminal Division of the Orihuela Court of First Instance, based in Torrevieja, ordered the arrest to enforce the sentence three weeks after the trial. Both the deportation penalty for cases of vicarious violence against domestic animals, and its effective enforcement, have few precedents in Spain, as highlighted by the Leal Association, which acted as the prosecution.
A court in Torrevieja ordered the immediate deportation to his country of origin on 13 May of the man who brutally beat his ex-partner’s cat to death. The incident occurred in the San Roque neighbourhood of Torrevieja at the end of April and generated widespread public outrage. The accused, originally from Cali, Colombia, struck the feline on the head more than twenty times with a broom handle and then continued kicking the already lifeless animal on the pavement. He was arrested by the Local Police and reported by his ex-partner and several animal protection associations for crimes of animal abuse with cruelty and for gender violence, in its aspect of vicarious violence.
After a fast-track trial held two weeks ago in the Court for Violence Against Women, where the accused did not accept a plea agreement, he was tried by the magistrate of the number 4 Criminal section of the Court of First Instance of Orihuela based in Torrevieja. The defendant, whose immigration status in Spain was not regularised, was in the process of obtaining residency based on his connection to the country. Therefore, faced with the possibility of a prison sentence for animal abuse, he opted to accept deportation for five years. The deportation will subsequently be extended because his criminal record will remain in effect, preventing him from regularising his status in Spain. During this five-year period, he will also be prohibited from travelling to any country within the European Union. The sentence will be carried out immediately. In this second hearing, an agreement was reached between the prosecution and the defence for the accused.
The private prosecution, represented by lawyer Mari Carmen Luque of the Leal Association, sought a lengthy prison sentence. Ultimately, the defendant, without the hearing proceeding further, admitted to all the charges against him and accepted the order of expulsion from Spanish territory as an alternative to a possible prison term. This association brought the charges thanks to the collaboration of the animal rights organisations Animalistas Torrevieja, Proyecto Ces, and Alma de Gato. The Leal Association celebrated this court ruling and the deportation as exemplary and unprecedented.
Calle Clavel in Torrevieja hosted a demonstration days before the court ruling, demanding justice for Nala, the cat brutally beaten to death by the now-convicted man. This case of vicarious violence saw the accused choose one of his ex-partner’s pets to inflict emotional harm on her and exact revenge by cruelly killing the defenceless animal. The perpetrator was arrested and, after appearing before a judge, was released on bail, charged with animal abuse and violence against women, and was subsequently tried. The attack occurred at the end of April on Calle Jacarilla in the San Roque neighbourhood, and the brutal images of the animal being beaten to death quickly went viral, causing widespread outrage. The footage shows how the man had to be subdued by local police officers as he continued to kick the cat’s lifeless body on the ground.
The demonstration, which drew an unprecedented crowd in Torrevieja compared to other protests, lasted for over an hour. It was organised by the “Somos la Voz de los Gatos” Association and supported by the PACMA party, the Torrevieja CES Project, Alma de Gato, Animalistas Torrevieja, and other animal rights groups. The attendees filled the pedestrian street Clavel, where the accused allegedly lived, to demand justice for Nala, chanting slogans directed at the man now convicted of the crime. The Government Sub-delegation had authorised the protest in front of the home of the perpetrator of the attack, in the centre of Torrevieja’s town centre, and it was heavily monitored by security forces.
