Provisional prison for the accused of the murder of a woman in Esplugues

BarcelonaThe alleged perpetrator of the crime of a woman in Esplugues de Llobregat last Saturday will enter provisional prison, communicated and without bail, as reported this Tuesday by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC). The investigating court has opened a case against this man for the crimes ofmurder of a 41-year-old Chinese woman in broad daylight.The events took place at eleven in the morning on Joan Miró street. The detainee stabbed the woman several times in the back and then cut her throat.

The police investigation has not been able to determine that they knew each other: everything indicates that she was a randomly chosen victim.

The man also threatened several neighbors with a knife and slightly injured another, and court 3 of the instruction section of the Esplugues de Llobregat court of instance also attributes to the accused the crimes of attempted homicide, assault, serious threats, and damage. According to what ARA has learned, the accused only answered his lawyer's questions.

In the hours following the crime, there was speculation about a possible religious or terrorist motivation behind it; a point that the Minister of the Interior, Núria Parlon, denied on Monday: "With the information we currently have, it cannot be concluded that it was jihadism, in any way." Specialists from the General Information Commissariat – who are in charge of the anti-terrorism fight – did not detect initial indications of jihadist motivation, and the case is being handled by homicide investigators and not anti-terrorism.

This Tuesday's judicial response also distances itself from the idea of terrorism: if the events had been framed as a jihadist attack, the Esplugues court would most likely have deferred to the National High Court, which is competent to judge such cases.