Girl witnesses mother's death
Eleven-year-old saw her father murder her mother
DOZENS of residents joined a minute's silence outside Dénia town hall on Tuesday condemning the brutal murder of an expat in front of her young daughter.
Helena, 44, was in bed when her ex-husband burst into the house at around 04.30 that morning and slit her throat with a butcher's knife. The couple, who are Russian, were separated and an injunction in place to stop Roman, 55, going near his victim. He had entered the secondfloor apartment through the window using a ladder.
Their daughter Anastasia, 11, witnessed the entire scene. Her cries for help from the balcony were what roused neighbours' attention. She was heard shouting, “He wants to kill us!” A woman living next door called the 112 emergency hotline, and seconds later, the little girl did likewise. But Helena had already died by the time the police and ambulance reached the scene.
The killer was still on the premises and was immediately arrested. He is said to have pleaded guilty to the murder.
'No evidence of criminal activity'
Anastasia's drama teacher Svetlana, also Russian, told police Helena had 'long had problems with' her ex-husband, whom she had only lived with for six months.
Helena was intending to apply for Spanish citizenship.
The little girl 'often cried and seemed very down', and she and her mother both worried her father was 'following them in his car', which 'terrified' them.
Roman had appealed against the injunction, awarded by Benidorm Criminal Court on February 25, and denied charges of gender violence, meaning his order to keep away from his exwife and daughter was not legally binding. Police say he had broken it twice.
As well as the two-year restraining order, he had been sentenced to 112 days' community service.
Later last year, the court filed the case, claiming there was 'insufficient circumstantial evidence of criminal activity' to warrant its remaining in place.
Despite this, Helena had told police in March 2018 that her exhusband had tried to run her and Anastasia over. They were leaving a supermarket when they saw Roman in his car 'staring at them and smiling', and fled swiftly into their front door.
Helena 'had to yank Anastasia by the arm' to get her out of the path of Roman's vehicle.
Each time he went to court, Roman alleged he was gay so as to deny having been in a relationship with Helena.
He is also known to have called Helena's adult son, who lives in Russia, proffering threats against his mother and half-sister.
'Community service' for repeat assaults
Helena had first reported him for assault at Christmas 2017 and was placed under a protection order, but considered 'lowrisk'.
Earlier this month, she was moved up to 'medium-risk', which merely means 'random police check-ups' and regular visits to touch base, as well as being able to use the 24-hour women's centre and being on the social services' home appointment schedule.
Roman had apparently 'left her in peace' for some months before the murder, according to neighbours, who say Helena and Anastasia moved to Dénia from elsewhere in Spain two years ago but Roman had lived there for 20 years. Anastasia had also been a direct victim of her father's violence, according to court information that has been released since Helena's death.
She suffered bruises to her ribs and abdomen after trying to stop Roman from beating her mother over the head with a heavy book on January 2, 2018.
At the time, the child's parents were still together.
Two days earlier, on New Year's Eve, Roman had 'forced' Helena to dance with him, during which he twisted her arm, kicked her legs and threw her to the ground – then did exactly the same to the child. But his only punishment was 118 days of community service.
MP for the province of Alicante Araceli Poblador says the dedicated gender violence committee will meet in the next few days to see whether 'the system failed Helena'.
Dénia declared a day of mourning on Tuesday, meaning all public engagements were called off and the Halloween fairground shut, and flew the town hall flags at half-mast.
Victim number five on the Costa Blanca
So far this year, 48 women have been murdered by their current or former husbands or boyfriends in Spain, and seven of the victims were in the Valencia region, of whom five were in the province of Alicante.
Since specific figures for these crimes were first recorded in 2003, a total of 1,023 women have been killed by men.
In the past six years, 267 children were left orphaned after their mothers were murdered – 36 so far in 2019.
Domestic or gender violence victims can call the free helpline 016, which does not show up on an itemised bill and where they can be attended to in up to 51 languages.
Children can call the ANAR Foundation on the freephone 900 20 20 10 helpline, and witnesses should ring 112, which will connect even on a low battery or in areas of zero mobile coverage, and where operators will speak English upon request.