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A tourist was stabbed in the back of the neck in a random attack while walking with her boyfriend in central Valencia.

 

The 29-year-old Italian woman was assaulted last week as she strolled along Calle Conde Trenor, a street near Valencia’s city centre and the popular Turia Gardens park, which runs through the old riverbed. The unknown attacker fled the scene immediately.

 

Local police said the alarm was raised around 10am when a call came in reporting a woman bleeding heavily from a neck wound. A nearby officer rushed to help and found several residents, along with the victim’s partner, trying to stop the bleeding with a towel provided by a neighbour.

 

“The partner said a man had approached them from behind and had stabbed his girlfriend in the neck with a metal object before running away,” police said in a statement. “He gave the officer a detailed description of the assailant.”

 

Officers suspected the attacker could be someone known locally who often sleeps rough nearby. The man, identified only by his initials J.A.T., was arrested in a nearby square at around 3.30pm. Police said he had blood on his clothes at the time of his arrest and was recognised by the victim’s partner as the attacker.

 

They also revealed the suspect is thought to have flown into a rage after being refused entry to use a toilet shortly before the stabbing.

 

The Italian woman was treated in hospital and has since been discharged.

 

The attack came just a day after another random stabbing at Palma Airport in Majorca, where a Salvadoran man, also believed to be homeless, allegedly attacked a stranger. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide.

 

Spain’s growing homelessness crisis has been making international headlines this week. It emerged that around 500 rough sleepers have been taking shelter at Madrid’s Barajas Airport, prompted by the country’s extreme weather conditions and worsening housing accessibility crisis. Night-time restrictions have now been introduced at Madrid Airport to limit access to the terminal.

 

 

Image: Photo by Iván Rivero/Pexels