Strangled woman's children reject claim of emotional blackmail

One of the woman's children told the Provincial Court yesterday that it was absurd for him to have suggested that her mother had threatened to commit suicide. The woman's children have questioned statements made in court that their mother had engaged in "emotional blackmail" in order to get married. This threat did not "match her character".

Celia was self-sufficient and had never asked for money. Nor did she have problems with alcohol. She drank like any other person - a glass of wine or a beer, explained one of the children.

José María was "very possessive" and it was possible that he was jealous of the relationship between the mother and her five children. He had asked Celia to marry him a few months after their relationship had started, and this had been something "precipitate". The relationship started to deteriorate, and Celia began to lose weight. "She was not the same."

The first police officers who went to the scene say that the accused confessed to the crime. An officer told the court that he had gone to the property in Son Cotoner after the woman's children had advised police that their mother was not picking up her phone but that they had seen movements inside the apartment. The fire service was called and opened the door. Inside there was a great deal of blood. The deceased was lying on the floor and the accused was asleep on a sofa.

When he woke up he was disoriented. He told the officers that there had been an argument and that he had killed her. "He said this spontaneously and in a surprising way," said the officer. "There was blood everywhere. It was a Dantesque scene. I had never seen so much blood."

The chief inspector of the National Police homicide squad added that José María had said the following day that he had strangled and beaten Celia. This was during a search of the apartment.

On Monday, José María admitted to the court that he had hit Celia with an iron kettle but that he can't remember anything of what happened. The first thing he can recall is waking up in a police cell.

The prosecution is calling for a 25-year sentence.