Malaga gender-based violence deaths in 2026 match total for all of 2025 in just seven months

Gender-based violence

A deadly wave of six confirmed femicides across Malaga province - five in July alone - triggers alarm over rising domestic abuse fatalities

Irene Quirante

The picture of gender-based violence in Malaga so far this year is devastating. In just seven months, the province has seen six confirmed femicides, as reported by the government delegation against gender-based violence.

With this tragic figure, Malaga has already reached the total number of femicides in 2025, when it broke its all-time record (2003) and topped the national map. It surpassed provinces such as Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.

In July alone, by far the deadliest month of the year, five women were found dead in the province with signs of violence, two of them this week within just 24 hours of each other.

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• Gender-based violence

  • María, murdered this week in Antequera, had been registered in the VioGén system since 2023. It so happens that, just days before the crime, the court revoked her protection order after she had apparently requested it herself.

    The family of the 29-year-old woman, who leaves behind two orphaned children, suspect that she was coerced by her ex-partner into taking that step. The assailant took his own life after killing her.

    British-born Victoria, 33, was also murdered by her ex-husband, Juan Antonio, whom she had also reported to the police. Despite the restraining order, he repeatedly violated it. He had two prior convictions for minor threats and breach of a restraining order.

    Victoria was the first victim of gender-based violence in the province in 2026. Her ex-partner stabbed her to death on 26 January in front of her three children, who were between the ages of seven and eleven, in her home in Alhaurín el Grande. Later, the man turned himself in at the Alhaurín de la Torre prison and confessed to the crime.

    Almost five months later, in the early hours of 5 June, the bodies of Victoria, 51, and her husband, Francisco, 56, were found with gunshot wounds in their home in the Palma-Palmilla district in Malaga city.

    From the beginning, all hypotheses suggested that the man, who had been under psychiatric treatment and on sick leave for years, had killed her and then taken his own life with the same gun.

    In this case, neither of them was registered in the VioGén System.

    On 1 July, the body of 35-year-old Cristina, a resident of Malaga city's Ciudad Jardín district, was found in a well in Rincón de la Victoria. That same day, her ex-partner confessed that he had stabbed her to death weeks earlier.

    The man appeared in the VioGén system for three other previous victims. Both he and another individual, who allegedly helped him dispose of the body, remain in pretrial detention, while a woman has been released pending investigation.

    Just one week later, in the early hours of 8 July, a 61-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter were found dead in their home in Mijas after the house had been set on fire. Their names were María and Patricia, respectively. Both had stab wounds, leading investigators to suspect from the outset that the perpetrator had tried to disguise the double murder with arson.

    The following day, the mother's ex-partner, 67, was arrested for his alleged involvement in the double murder and for suspected robbery with violence. The man appeared in the police database as a "persistent aggressor".

    People who knew him well told SUR that he had been in prison several years prior for attempting to strangle a former partner.

    On Monday, the police discovered the body of 29-year-old María in her home in Antequera.

    Less than 24 hours later, 45-year-old Melinda, from Hungary, was was found stabbed to death in a home in Benahavís. Her case is the only one that has not yet confirmed a motive.

    Neighbours raised the alarm after hearing a loud assault and seeing a man flee in a vehicle. For now, the police only know that Melinda and her murderer knew each other.

    The province has recorded 68 femicides since 2003. January and July stand out as the deadliest months, with nine women murdered by their partners or ex-partners each.

    By age, the most affected group is the 18-30 (18 victims), followed by 41-50 (17) and 31-40 (12). There were also nine victims between the ages of 51 and 60, five between 61 and 70 and seven between 71 and 84.

    The other major victims are the orphans, who face a complex and painful process to regularise their family status, continue their studies or apply for assistance. Since 2003, the number of children orphaned by gender-based violence in the province has reached 29.

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