Broken Protection: When the Bracelet Fails to Save
In June of last year, an incident in Torremolinos, a small town in the province of Málaga, once again called into question the effectiveness of electronic bracelets for victims of domestic violence. A man who was required to wear a proximity monitoring device for his former partner removed it and left it in a bar along with the phone that tracked his location. After that, he disappeared, and police searched for him for four days. For the woman he had stalked and beaten for two years, those 96 hours became a true nightmare.
The Court on Violence Against Women in Málaga issued a restraining order and sentenced the man to 26 months in prison. But even after this, the victim’s fear did not subside. She recalls that the device meant to protect her often failed to work. Over the course of a year, she had to replace the terminal fourteen times due to constant technical issues. “I don’t trust this device, only the police officers who protect me,” she admits.
Technical Failures and Loss of Trust
The woman says she repeatedly encountered her ex-partner in the street, and the system did not respond. Sometimes the alarm was triggered late or without any reason at all. According to the prosecutor’s office, such malfunctions were recorded throughout the year, but no one was held accountable. Despite this, electronic bracelets are considered one of the most reliable protection measures in Spain—no woman wearing such a bracelet has been killed. However, when the technology fails, victims are left defenseless.
The Ministry of Equality was made aware of the problems through reports from specialists at the Cometa center. For the victim, this meant not only constant stress but also forced changes: she had to switch jobs and transfer her children to another school to make it harder for her stalker to find the family. The woman admits she has completely lost trust in a system that was supposed to protect her.
A story of abuse and escape
The protagonist’s life changed after breaking up with her first husband, who left her alone with the children. Soon, she met a new man. Their relationship began in February 2020, and just a month later the pandemic hit. He suggested they move in together to help with the children, and she agreed. But soon, there were shouting, lies, and beatings—both to her and the children. The most common cause was his fits of jealousy.
The ordeal reached its peak when she was beaten while seven months pregnant on Christmas Day 2021. The woman managed to escape. After that came threats, damage to her car, and the burning of a child seat. She went to the police, where it was revealed that the man had 17 prior arrests, including for threats and sexual assault. He was arrested, which brought relief for the woman.
A new reality: living under control and in fear
The court issued a restraining order against the man, but while he was in jail, it was unnecessary. After his release in August 2024, he was fitted with an ankle monitor. The woman recalls that on that day she didn’t leave the house, and the children didn’t go to school—the fear was overwhelming. But that was when a new phase of harassment began: the man realized he could use the device for psychological pressure. He would deliberately get close to the house so that the alarm would go off, and sometimes he’d leave his phone at home or turn it off to avoid being tracked. For the woman, it became a new kind of torture.
Particularly dangerous were the moments when the system failed to trigger on time. Once, she saw him at a pedestrian crossing, but the alarm went off only two minutes later. In other cases, the alarm would sound without cause, and the woman stopped reacting to it in order to avoid constant stress.
Court rulings and consequences
More than two years passed from the time the complaint was filed until the court hearing. In January 2025, the man was sentenced to 26 months in prison, but the sentence was suspended on the condition that he respect the restraining order and pay compensation. The woman agreed to this so she would not have to face him in court. She obtained an eight-year restraining order, keeping him 500 meters away from her, her home, and her workplace. However, the man kept violating the restrictions: he would leave his phone at home, switch it off, and the monitoring system continued to malfunction.
In June, he left his electronic bracelet and phone in a bar, as recorded by the Malaga criminal court. The woman’s lawyer filed a motion to revoke his suspended sentence, since he had repeatedly broken the restraining order. Only when the man was imprisoned again on a different charge did the woman finally feel free. Yet she knows that once he is released, the fear will return. Now, whenever she changes jobs, the first thing she does is study the emergency exits and security cameras. “We live in constant fear, even though they should be the ones suffering,” she says.
