A road tragedy in Tenerife on Sunday has taken a new twist as police now believe the crash was caused deliberately by the male driver.
What was thought initially to have been a tragic accident in which one person was killed and two other occupants of the car were badly injured is now being investigated as gender violence.
The car left the road and hit a wall on the TF-657 road in Buzanada in the south of the island at around 11pm on Sunday night.
The investigation has taken a new turn after the woman who was travelling in the back seat – the mother of the 28-year-old woman who was sitting in the front passenger seat and died in the collision – told police from her hospital bed that her ex-partner had driven at speed into the wall after an argument in the car, during which he vowed to kill them both.
Emergency services arrived on the scene quickly and freed the two women from the mangled car but, despite their resuscitation efforts, could do nothing to save the front seat passenger who was reportedly not wearing a seat belt and died on impact.
The 53-year-old man, who sustained injuries to his hip in the crash, has now been arrested and the investigation into what had first seemed to be an accident has been transferred to specialist police unit that deals with serious offences against women and children.
