A 58-year-old Dutch man who was found with a stab wound in his chest in an apartment near Palma de Mallorca on Boxing Day has been arrested in his hospital bed. He had identified his wife as the perpetrator, but that was not the true circumstances, the police discovered.
The woman called the emergency services on Boxing Day evening after she returned home and said she found her husband bloodied and with a stab wound in bed. She said on the phone that he had spoken to her about an argument at a nearby bar. Officers found the victim bleeding profusely and covered the chest wound so the man would not lose more blood. Ambulance workers then managed to stabilize the man in his fifties and transported him to the Son Espases hospital in Palma, ‘Ultimahora’ reported.
The wife, who was under the influence of alcohol, gave an incoherent story during her interrogation by the officers, according to the newspaper. Her husband was not stabbed in the bar but on the street and came home with a knife in his chest. She later tried to argue that the stabbing had taken place in the apartment and that a burglar was to blame. Due to the conflicting statements, the woman was arrested as a suspect in the attempted murder of her husband. Another factor was that she was involved in a similar incident a few years ago.
False accusation
The Dutchman initially confirmed his wife’s versions, but later said that his wife had stabbed him. However, detectives gradually discovered that the stories were completely incorrect. For example, there had been no fight in the bar the man visited and, according to witnesses, he had gone to his home without any injuries. It also turned out that the entrance door to the apartment had not been forced, which meant that the third-party accusation did not hold water. Further investigation also revealed nothing that indicated the woman’s involvement. She was released on Thursday.
Her husband was arrested in hospital. The police now assume that the Dutchman injured himself to provoke the arrest of his wife. This leads to the suspicion of ‘illegal restriction of freedom’ (due to that arrest) and ‘abuse in a family environment’. The fifty-year-old, who is doing well under the circumstances, was brought before an investigating judge on Friday. He must decide on a request to the judge to remand the suspect in custody.
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and never miss anything from the stars.