Specialist gender violence court needed

THOUSANDS of gender violence cases are dealt with each year in Malaga, leading the public prosecutor to request a specific criminal court be set up.

More than 4,000 men have stood before Malaga City’s number 12 and 13 criminal courts, which deal with gender violence cases, between 2012 and 2014 and 1,507 of them were found guilty according to a report by Andalucia’s public prosecutor for gender violence Flor de Torres Porras.

The number of cases the courts are dealing with has led De Torres to ask for a new specialised criminal court to be set up, stressing that the amount of work currently piling up means cases can take more than a year to be heard.

Other courts in the province (three in Malaga, one in Fuengirola and one in Marbella) reportedly dealt with 5,812 matters last year, many involving breaches of restraining orders. Across the province, 193 men are wearing electronic tracking bracelets and 76 are in prison to avoid them approaching their victims.

Last year, three women in Malaga province lost their lives at the hands of their partners.