A court has found a Tamaulipas man guilty of murdering his Spanish-born wife despite testimony on his behalf by members of her family.

Jorge Fernández was found guilty of femicide yesterday in the July 2017 murder of Pilar Garrido, whose mother and sister stood behind him before and during the trial.

Fernández had claimed that he and his wife were returning home after a couple days at the beach when they were stopped by a gang of men who kidnapped the 34-year-old Garrido.

Her remains were found near the end of July.

Fernández maintained his innocence throughout, and his lawyers contended that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence of his guilt.

The victim’s mother and sister also testified in the accused’s favor, insisting that the couple had always got along well, and that Fernández, a criminologist, had never been violent towards his wife.

The couple lived in Ciudad Victoria, and had one child.

The controversial case suffered a series of setbacks. Several defense lawyers abruptly resigned and a prosecutor and a judge presiding over the case were murdered.

But from the start there were discrepancies in Fernández’s version of events and unusual circumstances surrounding the case. He did not immediately report his wife’s kidnapping and washed the family car before he did so, according to a source close to the investigation.

Fernández is to be sentenced on Monday.

According to national statistics, Tamaulipas is one of the top five states with the highest incidences of violence towards women: 34% say that have been victims of violence committed by a spouse or partner, and 4,200 women received medical attention for acts of domestic violence in the first 10 months of 2018.

Source: El Universal (sp), El Pais (sp)