Sole suspect in young woman's murder due in Malaga court seven years after her disappearance

Gender-based violence

Dana Leonte's former partner and father of her daughter is due to stand trial before a jury in November, on charges of killing her, dismembering her body and scattering the remains

Irene Quirante

Malaga's provincial court has set a date for the trial over the killing of Dana Leonte, the 31-year-old Romanian woman who disappeared in the Axarquía village of Arenas after her boyfriend Sergio Ruiz allegedly killed and dismembered her in June 2019.

This puts an end to a complex judicial investigation, large-scale searches across the Axarquía and a painful wait for the victim's family.

The trial is scheduled to run over nine days: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 November.

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The sole defendant is Leonte's former partner, Sergio Ruiz, with whom she had a daughter. The prosecution documents the parties have submitted reveal differing views over the legal classification of the alleged crime, although all parties agree that the aggravating factors of a family relationship and gender-based discrimination apply.

The public prosecution classifies the case as homicide combined with an offence against moral integrity and is seeking a 17-year prison sentence. Meanwhile, both the private prosecution (representing the victim's brother, Gheorghe Florin Leonte) and the prosecution acting on behalf of the Andalusian regional government argue that the facts constitute murder and are seeking a 22-year sentence.

False alibi

The prosecution's account of events describes a relationship of control and domination.

According to the document, Leonte had previously reported Ruiz for gender-based violence in March 2019, although he was later acquitted. A few months later, on the morning of 12 June, she told him via WhatsApp that she wanted to end the relationship.

The fatal attack took place that same afternoon at the family home in Arenas. Prosecutors allege that Ruiz, "showing contempt for the woman's freedom and physical integrity", struck Leonte forcefully on the head with a wooden stick, leaving her unconscious or seriously injured.

The prosecution then says that Ruiz transported her body in the boot of his car to a rural area. Making use of his detailed knowledge of the local terrain, he allegedly dismembered the body before scattering and burying the remains in different locations around the municipality.

To cover up the crime, he cleaned the house with bleach and white spirit and sent messages from the victim's mobile phone pretending that she was alive and well in order to create a false alibi.

The young woman's disappearance triggered a major search operation. Nine days after she was last seen, investigators found her femur in an area known as Casa Córdoba. Further searches in October and November 2019 uncovered her tibia, a rib, a vertebra, her pelvis and part of her lower spine near the family home and along Camino Muñana.

According to the prosecution, forensic examinations found that several of the recovered remains showed bone fractures sustained before death.

Custody battle

The case also led to a lengthy legal dispute over custody of the couple's daughter, who had only recently been born when the events occurred.

Initially, the court suspended Ruiz's parental rights and the Andalusian regional government took the child into care. However, in September 2020, a Malaga court permanently granted family guardianship of the girl to her maternal uncle, Gheorghe Florin Leonte, with whom she has lived ever since.

Compensation

In addition to a prison sentence, prosecutors are seeking the removal of Ruiz's parental rights and a 25-year restraining order preventing him from approaching or contacting his daughter. The private prosecution and the Andalusian regional government are requesting that the restriction remain in place for 30 years.

As part of the civil claim, both the public prosecution and the regional government are seeking 300,000 euros in compensation for Leonte's daughter for the emotional harm suffered. Her brother is requesting 200,000 euros for the child on the same grounds.

Gheorghe Florin Leonte is also seeking compensation of between 75,000 and 100,000 euros for the loss of his sister and the costs of caring for the child. In addition, prosecutors are asking that Ruiz reimburse the Andalusian regional government for the expenses incurred during the extensive search operations, with the final amount to be determined after the verdict.