María Eugenia Prendes: “Laura Cruz had said she knew she wasn't going to stop until she killed her. That's such a definitive thing that it has to be the first thing we have in our heads.”
The prosecutor in the courtroom for Violence against Women was also the prosecutor in the trial of Dámaso Fernández for male violence against Laura Cruz, whom the now former civil guard killed last Wednesday in the barracks of the Armed Institute in Llanes.
María Eugenia Prendes picks up the phone from northern Spain. She is in Oviedo, in Asturias, where she was born 65 years ago and where she has come back this month of August, which is, in principle, the month of rest for a large part of the institutions. But not these days, not entirely for her, who is, since May 2025, the Prosecutor of the Chamber for Violence against Women.
She agrees to this interview, by phone, because she was also the prosecutor at the beginning of the proceedings in the case of Laura Cruz and Dámaso Fernández. He, now a former civil guard, last Wednesday, ignored the restraining order that was in effect and snuck into the Llanes barracks where he had lived with her many years ago and where their three children were born.
He went there only to kill her. Laura was 50 years old and he, who was eventually shot dead to prevent him from continuing to shoot at anyone he encountered while fleeing, was 49.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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