Maialen Begged for Police Days Before Murder

A murder trial in Vitoria-Gasteiz got more disturbing this week because the new detail was not about the killing itself. It was about the warning before it. On Tuesday, jurors heard that Maialen Mazón asked a bartender to call police during an argument with her husband just days before prosecutors say he stabbed her to death in an apartahotel room in May 2023. That matters because this was already a case wrapped in prior abuse reports, a restraining order, and a system that had flagged her as high risk before local authorities lowered that assessment. (noticiasdealava.eus) ### What came out in court? The new testimony came from a bar worker in Vitoria-Gasteiz. She told the court that Maialen, in the middle of a dispute with her partner, asked her to call the police. But the call never happened. The worker said the man downplayed the scene as jus(noticiasdealava.eus)hat happened days later. (noticiasdealava.eus) ### What is Jaime Roca accused of? Prosecutors say Jaime Roca killed Maialen Mazón on May 27, 2023, in an apartahotel in Vitoria-Gasteiz by stabbing her 13 times with the intention of killing her. They say she was 16 weeks pregnant with twins and that their 2-year-old daughter(noticiasdealava.eus)abortion charges, and 4 for child abandonment. (orain.eus) ### Why is the child central here? Because this is not just a homicide case in the narrow sense. The prosecution says the child was left alone in the room after the killing, physically unharmed but trapped beside the body for hours. That is why the charges go beyond murder. Prosecutors are also seeking removal of parental rights, a no-contact order, and financial compensation for the girl and Maialen’s father. (orain.eus) ### What does the defense say? The defense is not mainly arguing that the killing did not happen. The argument is about mental state. Roca’s lawyers have asked for acquittal on the basis of a temporary mental disorder, or failing that, a partial exemption tied to mental disturbance and alcohol use. They say he had been drinking and suffered a total break from reality during the argument. (orain.eus) ### Does the testimony support that? So far, not cleanly. Other witnesses told the court that after the crime he seemed apathetic, but lucid. Two young people who were with him later said he was bloodstained, spoke normally, and showed no signs of delirium. That does not settle the legal question, but it cuts against the simplest version of a complete mental collapse. (teleprensa.com) ### Why had this case already drawn so much attention? Because Maialen was not invisible to the system. She had an open gender-violence case, and a court in Torremolinos had issued a restraining order against him. She also appeared in Spain’s VioGen monitoring syst(teleprensa.com)n Euskadi so incoming high-risk assessments would not be downgraded the same way. (orain.eus) ### Didn’t she also want the order lifted? Yes — and that is one of the hardest parts of many abuse cases. Officials said Maialen had told the Ertzaintza on two occasions that she wanted the restraining order removed because she did not feel fear or danger. That does not erase the prior warning signs. Basicall(orain.eus)r hold the relationship together. (europapress.es) ### Bottom line The trial is now doing two things at once. It is deciding whether Jaime Roca is criminally responsible for Maialen Mazón’s death. But it is also replaying, in painful detail, how many warnings existed before the killing — and how one of them reached a bar counter, a request for help, and then nothing. (noticiasdealava.eus)