The 35 year old Rumanian, identified as Manuel Lucian Cosman, said that he had stabbed her six or seven times leaving the kitchen knife stuck in her chest. Neighbours in Calle Catedrático Daniel Jiménez, in the Cisneros region of Alicante, reported hearing the woman screaming just before lunchtime but one said that as this was a fairly regular occurrence they thought little of it. Following Cosman’s statement to the police a SAMU ambulance was dispatched to the house but the medical team could do nothing to revive the woman. The couple’s two children, who were both in school at the time of the murder, were later taken into care by the authorities. According to neighbors, the couple was separated, although disputes between the two were frequent, so much so that on 7 May, the murdered woman reported Cosman’s abuse and threats to police. He was arrested and on the following day a court issued a restraining order preventing him from approaching within 500 meters of the woman or their children. He had been due to appear in court on May 22 charged with domestic violence but that charge was dropped on may 21 when the woman, Iona Toflea, refused to testify. The prosecutor had no alternative but issue an acquittal. The Minister for Social Services and Equality, Ana Mato, condemned the murder stating that the death brought the total to 19 women who had been murdered by their partners or former partners so far this year, of which 18 had not complained of any earlier mistreatment.
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