Violent aggressor who left woman quadriplegic in Marbella jailed for seven years

Francisco - the man who, in November 2018, left Isabel quadriplegic after threatening her with a knife and leaving her with no escape but to jump from the window - has finally been sentenced to seven years in prison. He was jailed on 27 June this year. Isabel, however, is not alive to see her assailant serve his punishment, as she died three and a half years after the incident, despite the intense treatment she had been undergoing.

Sandra is Isabel's younger sister. She says that every time she would visit Isabel at the residence where she was being taken care of, her sister would ask: "Has he already gone to prison? Look at how he has left me. I will never be able to move again in my life." Sandra would answer: "Soon, Isa, soon." That was the only response she could give.

To trace the incident, we would need to go as far back as 2002, when one of Isabel and Sandra's two brothers - Enrique - died at the age of 25, after a pallet fell on him while he was working on a building site in Marbella.

The death of her brother prompted Isa to move from Fuengirola to Marbella to be closer to her parents and the rest of her family. That is where she met Francisco. Their relationship started that same year, according to what she told SUR in a previous interview.

They were together for less than a year. Isa left him because of his violent behaviour, although his previous abusive episodes were not as scary and aggressive as the one that ultimately led to her death. Despite his nature, she never reported him, but she did continue having an on-and-off relationship with him through the years.

During the following 17 years, they would occasionally and sporadically meet, which would make Isa, who was innocent at heart, believe that she could get back together with him.

As proven by Malaga's provincial court and then by the High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA), on the night of 2 November 2018, Francisco invited Isa to accompany him to his home. She agreed, but the abuse started already on the street, where Francisco pushed and insulted her. Once in the house, a fierce argument ensued because he believed that someone had stolen his wallet and a narcotic substance he had been carrying. He suspected Isa.

In the course of the argument, Francisco punched her in the eye, knocking her to the ground and leaving her half-unconscious. When she came to her senses and got up, Francisco wielded a knife at her and held it close to her body. "I'm going to kill you," he said.

Isa tried to flee, but she couldn't do so through the entrance, as Francisco had locked the door. She saw the only window without bars - the one in the kitchen - and climbed over the sill, seeing it as her only option to avoid getting killed.

Isa fell to the ground from a first floor. "I had my arms backwards and the police officers asked me if I could move them, but no, I was unable to do so," she told SUR prior to her death.

She was admitted to the Costa del Sol hospital, where she spent more than a month in the intensive care unit. Going from hospital to hospital, supported by her family, she underwent several surgeries and various types of treatment for the very serious injuries she had sustained. The list of injuries and sequelae takes up almost three pages of the sentence.

Nobody believed Isa would live, but she did, motivated "to tell her story". She spent the rest of her life in a nursing home, trying to improve her mobility. Isa died of sepsis without seeing her wish to see Francisco in prison come true. Three years and eight months after the event, in July 2022, her body said enough was enough.

Francisco was arrested by the police on the night of the incident, but the judge let him go free. First Isa and then her sister Sandra never rested until the assailant was served a sentence.

The provincial court's initial sentence was of eight years in prison for the aggravating factor of gender violence, but the TSJA and then the Supreme Court reduced it to seven years, ruling that the intimate relationship between Isa and Francisco had not been accredited.

Francisco failed to appear before the court several times and missed the deadline, which had granted him a mandatory period for voluntary admission, once the sentence had become final. For this reason, the court ordered his detention.

It was Sandra who helped the police locate him. She knew where he lived. On the day of the arrest, she went to his building and waited for him to come out. As he didn't know what she looked like, she could start walking behind him and pretend that she was talking on the phone with a friend, while, in reality, she was calling the police.

Francisco was arrested and finally sent to prison to answer for his crimes, finally giving Isa's family some peace.