Finnish man who chopped up partner in Torrevieja could face 25 years in prison
The Costa Blanca-based pensioner admitted to planning and executing the murder of his 68-year-old partner
This week, the trial began of a 70-year old Finnish expat charged with murdering his partner, dismembering her corpse and dumping the pieces in rubbish bins and around scrub land near their home in Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca.
As the sensational trial got underway, the pensioner admitted to planning the murder and he even jotted down the best ways to carry it out and get rid of the body on his mobile phone. The court heard that the man and his victim had been in a relationship for a year and a half and that the crime was motivated by financial gain.
The accused has a criminal record of domestic abuse dating back to 2018 when his partner at the time reported him. A neighbour told investigators that, days before the murder, the Finnish couple had argued and that the victim told her that the man “was crazy.”
On October 28, 2021, a homeless man hunting for food made the grim discovery of two legs and an arm in a public rubbish bin on Calle Cánovas. CCTV from a nearby supermarket picked up images of the suspect loitering around the bins; he was identified thanks to a distinctive cowboy hat he was wearing and promptly arrested.
A few hours later, police discovered yet more body parts during a search of his Torrevieja home and the surrounding scrubland.
A post-mortem confirmed that the victim had been strangled and stabbed numerous times in the torso, back and neck before her body was dismembered with a saw that the Finnish man purchased that same afternoon.
The public prosecution is requesting a 25-year prison sentence for the accused for the crime of murder, and 100,000 euros in compensation for each of the woman’s children.
The private prosecution, however, is demanding a life sentence with the possibility of parole and civil liability payments of 250,000 euros for each child, plus another 150,000 euros for the deceased's ex-husband.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja
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