An Irish man suspected of killing his partner at a Spanish hotel was remanded to prison on Wednesday by an investigating magistrate after a court hearing.
The hearing at Tarragona’s Court of Violence Against Women, a specialist court, took place behind-closed-doors and no details of what was said at the hearing were made public.
A spokesman for the investigating magistrate confirmed later on Wednesday afternoon: “The Court of Violence Against Women in Tarragona today received the man arrested over the death of his partner at a hotel in Salou on Sunday.
“The investigating magistrate agreed to provisionally remand him in prison without bail. The case has been classified as a crime of homicide/assassination and will be categorised more specifically as the investigation progresses.”
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Formal charges are only laid in Spain shortly before trial. The suspect has now been formally declared an ‘investigado’ - literally a person under investigation - following the hearing.
It was not immediately clear if the unnamed 30-year-old had agreed to be questioned by the judge.
The ongoing investigation will now take several months if not longer and conclude with the judge deciding whether to recommend charges and invite a prosecutor to submit an indictment. The suspect can be summoned for further questioning at any time.
Any witnesses to Sunday’s incident at the four-star Magnolia Hotel, or anyone the police and judge feel could provide any relevant evidence, will have given their testimony before Wednesday’s hearing or will be called in the coming days to testify. Their evidence will also be given in private.
The suspect has not been named by Spanish authorities. The woman has been named locally as Kirsty Ward (36) from Dublin.
The nearest prison to the court in Tarragona is Mas d’Enric Prison but court authorities have not confirmed this was where he was due to spend his first night in jail.
