Alex Trelinski
A VALENCIA jury has convicted a woman of murder after she systematically poisoned her boyfriend with laxatives so she could steal over €120,000 from his bank accounts and credit cards.
58-year-old Mari Carmen B.G. faces 28 years in prison as demanded by the public prosecutor.
She was also convicted of fraud and forgery as she tried to take out two loans in his name while he was admitted to the IMED Hospital in Burjassot for chronic diarrhoea.
The 70-year-old boyfriend, Salvador, was hospitalised in September 2020 and died there the following April.
Mari Carmen’s ruse was only discovered by Salvador’s children after his death who spotted his bank account was in the red.
They also uncovered numerous receipts from pharmacies for laxative pills at his Paterna home- the same time he was in hospital.
The sheer volume of pills given to him- a total of 4,000 had been purchased- led to severe diarrheoa resulting in heart disease, muscle weakness, and fatigue.
Doctors in Burjassot could not work out what caused his chronic condition but during his time in ICU, his health improved when he did not get any visitors.
Salvador was transferred to a general ward where Mari Carmen visited him and slipped him more laxative pills to extend his stay.
She even lied to his family that he could not see anybody due to Covid pandemic restrictions.
Between October 2020 and April 2021- when Salvador died- Mari Carmen withdrew €62,000 from different ATMs and made store purchases totalling €30,000 as well on multiple credit cards, totalling over €120,000.
Her officially-documented monthly income was just €400.
Public prosecutor, Vicente Devesa described it as a ‘treacherous and very serious crime’
“It’s unbelievably chilling,” Devesa added in reference to how the killer continued pumping him with laxatives in hospital.
During the trial, an ex-boyfriend of Mari Carmen testified that his bank accounts were emptied in three months when he was laid low with chronic diarrhoea.
Private prosecutor, Andres Zepana, acting on behalf of Salvador’s family, said she was ‘a predator who perfected her routine over time’.
