Hicham Bellasfer, the man who on the morning of September 28th, 2008, killed his former partner, Cecilia Coria, aged 25 years, on the terrace of a cafe on the Balcon de Europa has been sentenced to a total of 19 years in prison for murder, abuse and threats.
Section Eight of the Provincial Court in Malaga, headed by Fernando González Zubieta, acquitted the accused of the crimes of assassination and cruelty. Bellasfer, who admitted the crimes and apologised to the family, stabbed his former partner 18 times but the sequence of the wounds could not be established in order to determine whether any were for the purpose of prolonging the pain of the victim and thereby constituting cruelty.
Bellasfer was also acquitted of the crime of escaping from prison because of the pain of alienation he suffered before the crime had been proven.
Bellasfer has been ordered to pay 420,000 euros compensation to the legal heirs of the victim and to pay the costs of the private prosecution. The Court also rejected a request by the family of the victim that Bellasfer be expelled from Spain as this measure only applies to sentences of less than six years in prison.
The events occurred more than three years ago and shocked the people of Nerja. After the murder, it emerged that the victim had been subjected to regular abuse both during the relationship, which began in 2005, and after their separation. In the days before the crime, Cecilia, who had police protection, had received messages on her mobile in which Bellasfer told her she was “dead.”
The family of Cecilia Coria are considering an appeal against the sentence.