This young mum-of-two’s ex-boyfriend has been arrested for shooting her in the head after he posted a picture on Facebook captioned: “I was born to take care of women, not to rape them or kill them”.
Lara Gigena, 21, was at a friend’s house party on 500 Edison Street in the city of Rio Cuarto in the province of Cordoba, Argentina, when her ex-boyfriend Ariel Torres, 24, reportedly turned up at the address demanding she step outside in the early hours of Saturday, 6th November.
Lara walked out of the house and a violent argument broke out between the former couple, according to local media outlet TN.
The victim’s sister, who was not named, reportedly told local radio station LV16: “One of her friends at the party witnessed the argument unfolding from a window.
“Ariel was beating my sister so she went out and tried to defend her. She tried to bring her back in the house, but Ariel followed them with a gun and shot her from behind.”
The bullet went directly through Lara’s skull and she was confirmed dead on arrival at the San Antonio de Padua Hospital.
The suspect fled the scene of the crime and took refuge in his sister’s house just a few blocks away.
His sister called the police after she found out what he had done and he has since been detained on suspicion of ‘qualified homicide for mediating gender violence’.
The murder weapon, a revolver, was recovered by cops who found it hidden in a car registered to the suspect’s father.
The victim’s sister said that Ariel beat Lara so badly in the past that it resulted in her miscarrying a pregnancy.
She said that her sister just wanted Ariel to leave her in peace after the relationship ended, but he killed her, leaving her two daughters without a mother, before she could start to rebuild her life.
An unnamed friend also told LV16 that the suspect had previously shot Lara, with the bullet grazing her leg, and beaten her in the head with the butt of the gun.
The friend said that Lara did not report him to the police because she was afraid he would take revenge on one of her daughters.
In September 2020 ,Torres changed his Facebook profile picture to a selfie with a pink banner across it reading: “I was born to take care of women, not to rape them or kill them”.
The banner was part of an online campaign to raise awareness about gender violence and femicide in Argentina.
TN reported that in Cordoba, there have been over a dozen recorded cases of femicide this year alone.
The Observatory of Gender Violence found that last year (2020), 289 femicides occurred in Argentina, meaning that one woman was murdered every 29 hours.
The investigation is ongoing.
