A woman found dead on a bench in Malaga at the weekend has been named as a 27-year-old of Ukrainian origin.
Cata, who held Spanish citizenship, was found with multiple stab wounds just metres from a police station in the La Palmilla district of the city in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Tributes have since poured in for the woman, including from Malaga Acoge, a volunteer association that works on the social, labour and cultural integration of migrants and other vulnerable groups.
In an emotional tribute shared on its social media channels, the organisation identified the victim as Cata, ‘the name she wanted to be called’.
Malaga Acoge explained that they had worked with her for two years through Project Thesan, which supports young women leaving the care system with accommodation and training.
The charity said their paths crossed after Cata had already lived ‘a life always marked by gender-based violence and abandonment’.
Despite this, they described her as ‘a cheerful, sweet, impeccably turned-out young woman, generous, with a real desire to move forward and build a good life’.
During her time with the project, Malaga Acoge said Cata managed to achieve some of her goals. She found work, made friends and began living independently.
She also passed through several support services, including Proyecto Hombre, IES Vicente Espinel (Gaona), Puerta Única and the Municipal Reception Centre.
‘Despite all the efforts – sometimes hers, sometimes those of the people accompanying her – her dreams were not able to be fulfilled,’ the statement reads.
‘On Sunday night her life was taken from her, and the only comfort left to those of us who loved her is that her suffering has also ended.’
The organisation said it would remember her ‘every day, in every young person we support’, adding that the pain felt now would be transformed ‘into energy and commitment to accompany other young people without family support, so that they can fulfil their dreams’.
The Policia Nacional continue to investigate the circumstances of the killing and who was responsible.
Emergency services were alerted at 6.30am on Sunday after a call to 112 Andalucia reporting an unconscious woman in the street, in an area behind the Malaga Norte police station in La Palmilla.
Police officers, paramedics and emergency responders attended the scene, but were only able to confirm her death. An autopsy has since confirmed that she died from stab wounds.
Following formal identification, investigators established that Cata had remained in the Viogen domestic-violence protection system until October, a detail now forming part of the ongoing inquiry.
