La mother of the deceased, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s, went to alert the Police because her daughter asked her to be on the lookout in case something happened.
The family of Alejandra Emilia Villegas Machado, the 41-year-old woman who was killed by her partner this Wednesday in Algemesí (Valencia) along with their three-year-old son, has stated, in statements to the media, that the alleged perpetrator of the double crime was «aggressive» and they recount a recent episode of abuse that occurred 20 days ago.
«Report on time, please report on time,» they urge victims of abuse, as they indicate that the woman had given her partner a «one-month deadline.»
Alejandra’s brother and sister-in-law explained that the woman, of Venezuelan nationality, was planning to report her partner, Leonardo, a Colombian national with whom she had been living for seven years, but she did not do so for fear of him losing his documentation or papers. The child was turning three next month and was about to start school this year.
However, they state that the father did not mistreat the child, as far as they knew. «He was the best dad to the child, the best dad in the world, the one who posted pictures on social media of everything, ‘I love you.’ Even yesterday, he posted pictures of the child in the pool, pictures of the three of them as a family,» they recount.
This is what Leydi Rodríguez, sister-in-law, and her husband Andrés Eduardo, brother and uncle of the victims, assert, urging women in the same situation as Alejandra to report. «These cases do happen, they are real, and women have to report on time; no one deserves to lose their life, men cannot come and take a woman’s life as if it were nothing,» exclaims Leydi, who laments that the child «could not defend himself.»
In this regard, she has pointed out that if there are problems in a relationship, what should be done is to leave it but «not harm people, not kill people, no one has the right to take another person’s life. That’s why she hopes that the suspect in the double murder «never, never gets out of that prison, and neither does anyone else who does something so horrible.»
«Appearances are deceiving. People are not what one really thinks, and all I can say is that these things happen and I hope that there is another woman listening who can act in time» to prevent the same thing from happening to her. «You don’t know what is in the heart and mind of a person when they commit a crime, that’s what I believe,» adds Alejandra’s brother.
IN SEARCH OF A BETTER FUTURE
Leydi has detailed that the victim emigrated from Venezuela to Colombia in search of a better life and there she met her partner, with whom she later came to Spain in 2021 because things were also «very difficult» there. However, she insists that «nationality doesn’t matter» because to commit a murder «there are only two religions: being a good person or being a bad person.»
Alejandra was the first to arrive in Spain, and later the family helped her partner come «to start a business and have a better future, as in our countries, the situations are critical and people like us come to these countries to seek a better future, more stability, and that’s what she wanted.»
Her brother described her as «a very good and hardworking person» who «didn’t deserve any of what happened.» They affirm that her brother-in-law had «many anger outbursts,» was «very jealous,» «aggressive,» «a very bad man,» and «was mentally unstable.» The victim considered reporting him, «but she didn’t want to harm him with the documents; she didn’t want him to lose his papers or for that to affect his life, and that’s why she didn’t report him.»
Alejandra has another daughter in Colombia, aged 20, and he has two other children, and the family claims that in that country, the young woman «also witnessed similar things to what she experienced here.»
MOTHER ALERTED
Alejandra’s mother, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s, «always slept with the phone, in case something happened» because he was «aggressive,» and her daughter had asked her to call the Police if she heard anything. «She heard in the morning as if he were strangling her, and my mother-in-law is not very clear about things, but she knew what was happening. She went out and with someone’s help, I don’t know who, she managed to contact the Police,» Leydi describes.
According to her words, the last episode of abuse happened 20 days ago when he hit her. However, she claims that she did not tell her the truth about how things had happened that day but another version because her sister-in-law «defended him a bit for fear of hurting him.»
However, last Friday, Leydi expressly asked her sister-in-law to «please report him.» However, she believes that the situation was «very difficult» for her due to the economic situation, having a child, and the partner being «the provider.»
«I told her to be calm, that nothing would happen, that she should report him so that she could avoid him approaching,» she explains emotionally, because she thought that this way «the most likely thing is that with the report, the Police would take him away, put a restraining order on him or something. And we’ll pay the rent no matter what and we’ll get through it, and you have our support.» But, as she claims, she «had given him a one-month deadline.»
«I believe that no one ever expects this, and only when you experience it do you believe it, see it, but it seems like a horror movie, it’s horrible. I didn’t expect this for anyone because if we hadn’t expected it, we would have acted in time to prevent all this,» she says tearfully.
The family appreciates that her mother «was able to leave there» because they fear that he would have also killed her, and emphasizes that, despite her condition, the woman is «very sad.» «When my mother heard my sister’s screams, asking for help, she wanted to go» and «thought about taking the child out, but when she saw that she couldn’t, she ran away because she was scared.»
In fact, they claim that the victim had asked her mother to be on the lookout in case something happened to call the Police. «They had already talked about it, and she had told her, ‘Mom, be on the lookout with the phone! Because if you see anything, call the Police right away. You run out and call the Police right away. Indeed, my mother did that,» affirms the brother.