An 18-year-old Moroccan migrant has been placed in custody in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta after allegedly trying to slit the throat of a 24-year-old female NGO worker he was dating.
The Moroccan had been living with the NGO worker for the past three months, with the victim claiming to have suffered repeated ill-treatment during their relationship.
According to a report from El Pueblo de Ceuta, the migrant had become enraged that the woman, described by the newspaper as a social worker, wanted to take a trip to the Spanish mainland. The teen migrant then locked her in a room, broke her phone, beat her, and tried to slit her throat.
The Ceuta-based newspaper claims the woman was able to reason with the migrant and convince him to let her go to the hospital because she was losing blood, promising not to report him to the police.
However, after getting treatment and as soon as she was alone in the hospital, the social worker reported the migrant to the police, who then placed him in custody.
Police sources told the newspaper that the migrant had come to Ceuta as a so-called unaccompanied minor and had only recently lived in a juvenile centre in the enclave.
On Monday, the NGO worker gave an account of her prior experiences of violence at the hands of the teen to a local court. The Moroccan has already confessed to domestic violence and aggravated injury.
Prosecutors are still allegedly determining what to charge the migrant with. An attempted murder charge could see the teen go to prison for a minimum of just six years.
NGO workers becoming romantically involved with migrants is not a new phenomenon, and some have even been accused of sexually exploiting the migrants in the past.
In 2016, female activists volunteering at the former Calais Jungle migrant camp were even accused of engaging in sex tourism, exploiting younger migrants who were living at the makeshift camp.