The Moroccan father of a 19-year-old girl was arrested yesterday for attempted murder and causing injury after he had deliberately driven into the girl.

At around 6pm on Monday, the girl was walking along a street in Manacor when she was hit by her father's car. She was knocked onto the bonnet and roof before falling to the ground. The father left the scene.

She was taken to hospital with injuries to one arm and in a state of shock. She told the National Police that there was no doubt that it had been her father and that he had done this because he didn't approve of her relationship with her boyfriend. He had apparently threatened her on previous occasions. "If you go out with that boy, I will kill you." The boyfriend is in fact a Moroccan man, aged 30.

The girl hadn't wished to denounce her father, but witness statements led the police to arrest him.