A 39 year old Spaniard, who was under the influence of drugs, faces more than 27 years in jail for axing to death his 24 year old Romanian girlfriend, Sorina. He then cut up her body, after setting fire to their farm cottage, before trying to commit suicide. His trial started in Alicante’s Provincial Court on Monday, with the killing happening in October 2013 north-east of Villajoyosa in a cottage at La Torre de les Maçanes where the couple had lived together for five years. There were no previous reports of violence before the Benidorm-born man turned nasty on that fateful day two years ago, in a case that shocked the local community. His father and uncle came to the cottage and found him naked in a drunken and drugged up state, and advised him to hand himself in to the authorities which he duly did.
The accused, identified as Martin RS, told the jury that he saw a lump in the couple’s bed and started hitting it with an axe, saying that he did not know that it was Sorina. He had been to Benidorm earlier in the day and had taken acid-based drugs, which he claimed had made him suffer hallucinations. When he returned, he set fire to a building, and then went to the bedroom where he made his fatal attack. In his testimony, he said he could not remember dismembering Sorina’s body, but recalled hearing voices in his head telling him to hang himself. He tried to do that, but a tree branch gave way, so he then he tried to shoot himself in the head, but the bullet jammed in his unlicensed gun. Two Guardia officers testified on Tuesday that Martin RS confessed to the crime in a lucid way to them when he was under guard in hospital.
The defendant’s lawyers are arguing that Martin RS did not know what he was doing because of his drugged-up state, whilst prosecutors are asking for a quarter of a million euros compensation to Sorina’s family, in addition to a 27 year prison sentence.
