FREE!
Your English Newspaper
north EDITION roundtownnews.com
Work on track
The Regional Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport took a tour of a 2 million euro project at Javea’s Arenal Beach. PAGE 5
Issue 693
25 - 31 january 2013
Wishing everyone luck Prayers for four GRANT A Wish’s Christmas and New Year’s raffle draw has been made and lucky prize winners will be celebrating with a host of wonderful prizes. PAGE 15
legged friends
At the APASA shelter, Reverend Clive Read sprinkled Holy water on every dog currently a guest of the charity. PAGE 51
A touch of the Gremlins
PAGE 54
Guardia angels A TRAUMATISED victim of domestic violence has praised the actions of the Guardia Civil in helping her after she was cruelly beaten by her partner of 15 years. by Jack Troughton
Poppy today
Dog mutilated by thugs ‘Poppy’ was cruelly mutilated before being abandoned and left to die – with her ears and tail being sliced off. The 10-month-old was rescued some six weeks ago but despite enduring a nightmare start to her life she is ready to make a new start with a loving family. Read the full story on page 6.
She told RTN the police force was “magnificent” in its ongoing support following the attack last month that left her battered and bruised. And after discovering she lived nearby, one officer has made it his personal business to check on her well-being while the force has given her a list of ‘panic numbers’ should an emergency arise. Mrs A – the paper has agreed not to identify the 65-year-old – said she wanted to share her experience so women did not suffer in silence and advised any victim of domestic violence and of any nationality to go to the police. Thousands of incidents of domestic violence occur in Spain every year. The numbers of deaths at the hands of an abusive partner are falling after Madrid installed special courts and improved the training of police officers. However, 60 women were killed in 2011 by their partners, an improvement on the
previous year. It is understood more than 50% of incidents of domestic violence remain unreported. Mrs A said until she was attacked by her partner, their relationship was verbally abusive. “This was a one-off and totally unexpected. I was traumatised and spent 24 hours locked away in my campervan shaking. “I never had it in my mind that he would hit me – that was the shock, when he lay into me.” And to make matters worse her attacker went to the police claiming she had attacked him with a bottle – and the Guardia Civil at Altea rang asking her to go to the police station and answer his “denuncia”. “The police went mad when they saw my injuries. One eye was completely shut and I had bruising across my cheek bone – I actually thought the bone was broken and there were marks all over my arms and body,” she said. Continued on page 3