COSTA BLANCA SOUTH NEWS: Arrested for holding woman against her will

A 38-year-old man has been arrested in Novelda (Alicante, Spain) accused of retaining and coercing his 28-year-old ex-partner into withdrawing a restraining order she had against him. 

The suspect also has three previous restraining orders against three other different women. 

Local Police and Guardia Civil arrested him for suspected crimes of gender violence, breach of a restraining order and illegal retention.  

The police intervention came after the woman took advantage when the man was distracted to send a message via her mobile phone to her sister, who alerted local police.  

Several patrols of the Local Police and the Guardia Civil went to the address in calle Maria Cristina, near the provincial court, and found the woman and her alleged abductor, accompanied by relatives of the man. 

The chief commissioner of the Novelda Local Police, Juan Carlos Escolano, has explained that, allegedly, “the woman was being pressured and coerced for days, with physical and mental abuse, to go to court and withdraw the restraining order against her former partner.” 

Escolano added that both the young woman and the man are residents of a town near Novelda, “where they went to present in court a writ of withdrawal of the restraining order.” 

The woman, who was attended at all times by the unit of the Local Police Novelda against gender violence and minors (Gruvime), filed a complaint at the Guardia Civil barracks, according to the town council.