Arrested for rape and murder in Tenerife after nine years, refuses to make statement
Quiriat Yousef, arrested on 19 October for the murder of Asunción González in Añaza in 2017, refused to make a statement and was sent to provisional prison.
Arrested for Añaza crime refuses to make statement and remanded in custody
Quiriat Yousef R.P., arrested on Monday 19 October as the alleged perpetrator of the rape and murder of Asunción González Hernández in the Añaza neighbourhood in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, refused to make a statement before the investigating magistrate and before National Police officers, according to eldia.es.
The arrest took place exactly nine years after the crime. Asunción, aged 55, was sexually assaulted and beaten to death at approximately 2:30 am on the morning of 19 October 2017, inside a communal garage of a building located on Bentacayse street, as she was about to start her vehicle to go to her job at a meat distribution warehouse in El Rosario. Her body was found that afternoon by work colleagues, who had received no response to their calls or messages.
The Homicide Group of Santa Cruz de Tenerife carried out the arrest of Quiriat Yousef—a resident of the Santa María del Mar neighbourhood, born in 1994—following a lengthy investigation process. The officers requested a DNA sample from him voluntarily, a request the accused refused.
When brought before the judicial authorities on Wednesday, the magistrate issued an order for a genetic sample to be extracted in the presence of a forensic doctor from the Institute of Legal Medicine and the clerk of the administration of justice. The extraction was carried out by officers from the Scientific Police Brigade of the National Police. The investigation of the case falls under plaza one of the Investigation Section of the Court of First Instance in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which was on duty during those days.
The duty prosecutor, María Isabel Silva, requested the detention of the suspect in prison in light of the documentation presented by the investigators. At 4:00 pm on Wednesday, Quiriat Yousef was transferred to Tenerife II penitentiary, where he will remain in provisional custody, incommunicado and without bail, until trial before the Jury Court.
The key to the arrest lies in a DNA sample found years earlier. Six months after the murder of Asunción González, a woman suffered an attempted rape inside a building in the Santa María del Mar neighbourhood. The victim managed to call for help, and the arrival of neighbours forced the attacker to flee. He left behind a handkerchief from which investigators extracted genetic material. The DNA profile obtained matched the samples collected in the garage on Bentacayse street.
However, that profile did not appear in police databases, which prevented immediate identification. From that point onwards, the Homicide Group initiated a prolonged and exhaustive investigation process that culminated, nine years after the crime, with the arrest of Quiriat Yousef. The magistrate continues with the investigation of the case.
Source: Google News PY — Asunción