Torremolinos domestic violence trial: defendant says killing Paula was 'the biggest mistake of my life'

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Defendant Marco Romeo is facing 28 years in prison for the murder of the mother of his child, which he allegedly committed nine years after hiding ex-partner Sibora's body behind a wall

María José Díaz Alcalá

Monday, 9 March 2026, 17:34 | Updated 17:43h.

The trial for the murder of 28-year-old Paula in Torremolinos in 2023 started this Monday, 9 March. The defendant - Marco Romeo, the father of one of her children - is facing 28 years in prison.

The defendant has admitted to killing the victim, although he insists that it happened accidentally when she lunged at him with a knife during an argument: "We got into a fight with a knife in between us and, to save myself, we struggled and I made the biggest mistake of my life."

Romeo is also the main suspect in another brutal crime: the murder of 22-year-old Sibora Gagani and the subsequent concealment of the body behind a wall until its discovery nine years later, in June 2023.

Both women dated Romeo. It was Paula's murder in May 2023 that led to the discovery of Sibora's body. The defendant reported Sibora missing back in 2014, which is why Paula's brother believes that her death could have been prevented if the police "had informed of their suspicions" about Sibora's disappearance.

A jury will decide the defendant's fate. The prosecution has requested 25 years in prison for Paula's murder, with the aggravating circumstances of kinship and gender, plus three years for the habitual abuse that the woman suffered during the relationship.

The prosecution is also asking that Romeo has his parental rights taken away. He will, therefore, leave the child he shared with Paula without parents; Paul also had two children from previous relationships. The three children are now under the guardianship of the regional government.

The defendant could also receive a fine of 700,000 euros for his civil responsibility.

Chronology of the events

Paula and Marco were in a relationship for three years, during which both used drugs. According to the investigation, her substance abuse increased when they got together.

Threatened by Marco's jealousy, Paula stopped putting on make-up. She would often have bruises that she would blame on accidental falls.

When she was pregnant, Marco banned her from going to the gynaecologist and warned that "he would do everything he could to have her children taken away from her" if she didn't follow his orders.

According to the prosecution, the defendant tried to "isolate" Paula during those three years. He would stop her from going to work, which led to her to losing several jobs. He would also not allow her to have a telephone, so she was forced to use his mobile phone.

When Paula's sister tried to talk to both of them by video call, the young woman kept saying to Marco: "I haven't told her anything, I really haven't told her anything, I've only told her that we had a fight."

As Marco controlled even the bank cards, Paula's sister decided to provide her with a phone so that they could talk freely. On that phone, Paula's daughter, who was five years old at the time, once sent several WhatsApp audios to her aunt in which she told her that Marco would sometimes stand at the foot of Paula's bed with a knife while she was sleeping.

In March 2023, the defendant contacted the owner of a restaurant in Torremolinos and asked him for a job as a pizza chef. The owner hired him and rented him a flat, where Marco moved in with Paula. A few days later, Marco asked his boss to hire her as well.

The couple later started working in another restaurant owned by the same family, but Marco did not last long. In the first week, he broke the bathroom door because Paula was inside and he "thought that she was not alone". Their boss fired him.

The prosecutor states that on 10 May, just a few days before the crime, a 31.5-centimetre-long kitchen knife went missing from the kitchen of the restaurant. "It was later discovered that the defendant had stolen it and that it was the weapon with which he would intentionally cause the death of his partner," the statement says.

Paula eventually started a secret relationship with another man. The day before her death, she met with her new boyfriend, who asked her to stay over at his house because he was afraid for her.

To find out where she was, Marco asked several taxi drivers where they might have taken her, with the excuse that he had taken her documents by mistake.

According to the prosecution, Marco "set a trap" for Paula and lured her with the excuse that he was going to leave the flat. The next day, when she returned home, Marco was there. Their coworkers at the restaurant heard the screams.

Marco allegedly stabbed Paula 16 times. The young woman had her backpack on her, which shows that she was trying to flee.

Marco changed his clothes, washed his hands in the bathroom and fled, although he could not get very far. A patrol of the Torremolinos Local Police caught him while he was trying to force a wooden door of a residential complex.