A former police officer has been jailed for life for murdering his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 15 times with a butcher knife.

Matias Ezequiel Martinez, 26, a former police officer in the Argentinian province of Buenos Aires has now been jailed for life for murdering Ursula Bahillo, 18, after he was found guilty of having stabbed the young woman 15 times with a butcher knife in the rural area of Guido Spano, near the town of Rojas, on 8th February.

Martinez was reportedly the subject of multiple restraining orders due to acts of violence that had led his victim to file numerous complaints against him. But he nonetheless managed to lure her to the rural area under the pretext of resolving their differences.

It was revealed during the trial that Martinez was in fact notified of a new restraining order on the same day he murdered her, and he was in possession of said written notification at the time of his arrest.

The defendant’s lawyer had argued that his client had murdered the young woman in self-defence, claiming that she had tried to attack him, but this theory was ruled out by the court.

Judges Karina Piegari, Claudia Dana and Esteban Melilli followed the guidelines established by prosecutor Sergio Terron when sentencing Martinez for the crime of “homicide doubly aggravated by the relationship, by treachery and by gender violence”.

It is currently unclear if the jailed former police officer can appeal the sentence.