A judge has ordered provisional prison for a 19-year-old accused of homicide in the death of his father in Fuenmayor, La Rioja, on New Year's Eve afternoon. The incident stemmed from domestic violence, with the father attacking the mother with an iron bar, prompting the son to intervene to protect his family. The Civil Guard is investigating it as self-defense amid ongoing abuse.
On December 31, 2025, around 5:30 p.m., the Civil Guard received a call about a minor seeking help at Veracruz Street number 9 in Fuenmayor, a town of 3,300 residents in La Rioja. Upon arrival, officers found the 54-year-old father dead in the ground-floor apartment with multiple head injuries. He was with his wife and three children, two minors. Items in the home are being examined as potential weapons.
The probe shows the father, with a history of abuse, attacked his partner with an iron bar in a hostile and aggressive manner. The eldest son, 19, intervened upon hearing screams, grabbing a knife to protect his mother and siblings, fearing for their safety. The confrontation escalated, ending in the father's fatal injury from a blow. The Civil Guard views the incident as rooted in ongoing gender-based violence: the mother was in the Viogén system until 2012, but abuse resumed recently, fostering fear and despair at home.
The judge has charged the youth with homicide and ordered provisional imprisonment. In the quiet town of Fuenmayor, a minute of silence was held, organized by the town hall with about 50 attendees, in coordination with the La Rioja government and the Government Delegation.
Delegate Beatriz Arraiz condemned the tragedy: “it stems from an act of gender violence by the father against the mother that unfortunately led to the son killing his father.” Mayor Alberto Peso described the family as arrivals four or five years ago, integrated without prior suspicions: “Fuenmayor is a small, peaceful town, and this happening makes us very sad.” Resources like the 016 hotline support victims of macho violence.
