The Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, has initiated an ex officio enquiry with the Directorate General of the Police and the Attorney General’s Office to investigate the alleged murder of a girl by her father on 30 December in Madrid.
Ángel Gabilondo has asked for an investigation into whether the mother had filed a complaint for herself, for her daughter or for both. Whether there had been any kind of police intervention for the protection of the minor and, if so, whether the corresponding report had been submitted to the public prosecutor’s office. If the school or any of the educators who had contact with the child were aware of a possible situation of risk, and if in any way – either during the process of the couple’s break-up or in any of the revisions of the regulatory agreement that may have occurred subsequently – there was evidence on the part of the public protection authorities or the public prosecutor’s office that there was a risk to the child during the periods of the father’s custody and guardianship.
The Ombudsman has on numerous occasions expressed concern about vicarious violence against sons and daughters in order to cause maximum pain to the mothers. Children are direct victims of this violence and should be at the centre of attention of all actions of public authorities in the fight against gender-based violence.
The institution has insisted on the need to grant rapid and effective protection to the children of women victims of gender violence, as victims of gender violence in themselves, as required by the Istanbul Convention to which Spain is a party, paying maximum attention to them, in order to prevent further murders at the hands of abusive fathers.
