Agents of the Local Police of O Porriño, this Thursday in front of the house where a neighbor has kidnapped a womanÓSCAR CORRAL
Nine police officers broke down the door of a floor of the Paseo Marítimo building in the Pontevedra town of O Porriño, where the
26-year-old fugitive Manuel Fernández,
El Rami , had kidnapped his ex-girlfriend for six days.
The notes that the girl threw out the window asking for help, while her kidnapper was sleeping, triggered a complicated operation carried out at dawn to free the girl and arrest this criminal who had avoided up to 11 requisitions to enter prison for various convictions.
The search for him had intensified 20 days earlier when he was denounced by a minor whom he had also kidnapped in a neighboring town hall, but she managed to escape from her.
Around six in the morning on July 25 (official holiday in Galicia that commemorates its patron saint, Santiago Apóstol), a neighbor was on her way to work following her routine walk.
She was crossing Ramiranes street, in the middle of the city center, when she saw two pieces of paper flying over the front of a building.
She stopped to pick them up and when she raised her head she saw a girl waving her arms insistently from the window of one of the first floors, but the woman, skeptical, resumed walking.
When she got to work, she unfolded the two folded papers and read: “My name is (...) I have been kidnapped since Tuesday by my ex-partner in this building, in the apartment owned by (...).
I fear for my life, I don't know how to get out of here.
Help me, call the Civil Guard.
That they be careful, if he sees police he kills me.
It is not a joke.
Thank you."
In the other handwritten note, the woman wrote: “My name is (…) I have been kidnapped since Tuesday in this building.
Call the police.
It is not a joke.
Don't make any noise, Manuel is beside himself.
There is no key in the door."
The woman, who has wanted to remain anonymous, commented on what happened with her colleagues, who encouraged her to call the 112 Emergency phone number in case the girl's life was in danger.
"When the lady calls, she already warns that it may be a joke because she did not believe what she had seen and read," says the chief inspector of the Local Police Daniel Rodríguez.
“When they gave us the notice, it was very early, and at that moment the night guard checkpoint coincided with the agents from the morning shift who were already entering, so we were able to count on seven troops to prepare the operation,” he recalls.
It was found that the parents of the kidnapped girl had filed a report for disappearance in Vigo, where they lived.
With the intervention of two agents of the Civil Guard, the operation was mounted around the building indicated in the handwritten notes.
In a first inspection of the street to locate the apartment, which was owned by the kidnapper's sister, a third letter was found on the hood of a parked car: "My name is (...) I have been in this building since Tuesday against my will I fear for my life.
He is very upset, beside himself.
Call the Civil Guard, it's the apartment of (...).
It is not a joke.
That they be careful, if they see police they kill me.”
The assault was carried out with all due care because the girl's life was at risk.
The agents rang the bell, but there was no answer, so they chose to break down the door.
“We found the alleged kidnapper sleeping in bed, and without giving him time to react, we handcuffed him.
Seeing us, he did not resist, although he did not show an iota of repentance either, and he waited undeterred for his rights to be read to him, ”the inspector underlines.
“The girl was sitting in a corner of the room, scared, with an obvious anxiety crisis, and explained that she had been locked up in the house since July 19.
She had various bruises on her face and body, so she was quickly transferred by ambulance to the Álvaro Cunqueiro hospital in Vigo, accompanied at all times by an agent, ”describes the chief inspector.
There she launched the sexual assault protocol and she was recognized by a forensic doctor.
Manuel Fernández, a habitual user of narcotic substances, had been fleeing from the police for a year and a half with an arrest warrant.
The eldest of three brothers, sons of a transporter who had left behind a past history with the justice system, lived with his family on Ramiranes Street since he was a child, where the kidnapping took place, hence he was nicknamed El Rami when he started very young. to swell a long criminal record for robberies and robberies, for which he was claimed by several courts in the province.
“When he was 18 years old, he already pointed out ways,” says the police chief, “and it is evident that, in this year and a half as a fugitive, someone had to give him logistical support to remain hidden from the police for so long in a small town where everyone knows each other. ”, emphasizes Rodriguez.
The detainee was investigated for kidnapping a minor in the neighboring municipality of Ponteareas, just two weeks earlier, and holding her in a farm owned by relatives of El Rami where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
The victim managed to break the restraints and escape.
He later denounced the fugitive for kidnapping and rape, facts that are being investigated by the Vigo Juvenile Prosecutor's Office.
The day after his capture, the head of the Investigating Court number 3 of O Porriño ordered Manuel Fernández to be imprisoned for the alleged crimes of illegal detention and sexual assault of the woman.
The magistrate has recused herself from the case in favor of the Vigo courts where the disappearance complaint was filed.
According to the police investigation, the alleged kidnapper and the victim had been in a relationship for some time.
As he owed her an amount of money, about 400 euros, according to the girl, she called her on the phone to go to her sister's apartment under the pretext of returning it to her.
But the woman did not return home and she was held there.
The kidnapper had threatened his victim with cutting her throat if she ran away, the girl said.
"He knew perfectly well what he was facing, a sentence of 15 to 20 years for illegal detention and sexual assault, but he also knew that, if he carried out his threats, the sentence would mean five years or so in prison," says the inspector.
While waiting for the forensic opinion, the researchers agree that Manuel Fernández presents the profile of a psychopath.
"He has a mental health problem, he does not feel empathy for the suffering of others, nor does he have remorse for his repeat criminal acts," they explain after analyzing the history of the detainee.
The 016 telephone number assists victims of gender violence 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be deleted from the device.
