AN Italian man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for the brutal murder of his girlfriend in Torremolinos in one of Malaga’s most shocking crimes in recent memory.
It comes as the man, identified as Marco R, awaits a second trial for the gruesome killing of a previous partner whose body was found hidden behind a wall.
The 48-year-old expat was convicted of stabbing his partner, Paula, 28, a total of 16 times in 2023.
A popular jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict on March 13, condemning him for murder with aggravating factors of kinship and gender violence, alongside a secondary conviction for habitual abuse.
The court heard how the killer lured Paula—the mother of his child—into a deadly and calculated trap.
He falsely told her he had moved out of their shared apartment in the El Calvario neighbourhood of Torremolinos so she would return, allowing him to launch a surprise attack.
During the trial, the Italian national offered a desperate defense, claiming the fatal stabbing was a mere accident.
He testified that Paula had tried to attack him with a knife and fell onto the blade during a struggle — a version of events the jury entirely rejected.
However, the 24-year sentence is only the first chapter in his judicial reckoning.
Marco is still awaiting a second trial for one of the Costa del Sol’s most chilling crimes: the murder of his former partner, Sibora.
The 22-year-old woman of Albanian origin vanished without a trace, sparking a mystery that lasted nearly a decade.
She lacked the correct residency papers which initially complicated efforts to track her down, while Marco allegedly phoned her mother in Albania to falsely assure her the couple was doing well and planning a move back to Italy.
Her grim fate was only revealed nine years after her disappearance, following Marco’s arrest for Paula’s murder.
Suspecting the worst, investigators secured a search warrant for the same El Calvario apartment.
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Hidden in the attic space behind a false wall, police discovered Sibora’s remains crammed into a large wooden drawer serving as an improvised coffin, eerily adorned with a bouquet of flowers resting on her chest.
Tragically, Marco’s history of violence against women was well documented before Paula’s death.
Spain’s national domestic violence database, VIOGEN, had him registered as a serial abuser.
Beyond the two murder cases, he also carries a 2024 conviction resulting in a nine-month prison sentence for abusing yet another romantic partner.
No date has yet been set for the second trial regarding Sibora’s murder, but prosecutors have previously indicated they will seek a combined total of up to 50 years behind bars across his sprawling catalog of crimes.
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