Cristina Ortiz-Lozano was killed in a frenzied attack after being followed home by her ex-lover after she went on a date with another man.
Cristina Ortiz-Lozano
A Cruise line worker was stabbed 23 times by her jealous ex-boyfriend after he saw her on a Tinder date with another man.
Cristina Ortiz-Lozano was killed in a ‘frenzied’ attack after being followed home by ex-lover Abdelaziz El Yechioui Ourzat, prosecutors said.
A jury was told he had been caught on CCTV “hiding in the shadows” outside a pub where she had gone with a man she met on the dating app.
He then allegedly followed the couple as they went back to her house before following her inside and stabbing her 23 times with a kitchen knife while her date waited outside.
Prosecutor Kerry Maylin told Winchester Crown Court in Hampshire, England that Ourzat, 30, was “a jealous ex-boyfriend in a fit of rage who conducted a frenzied attack on her, quite simply because she had gone out with a male, not Mr. Ourzat, on the night of the killing”.
The jury heard that the couple met at school in Spain and had been together for about 12 years before Miss Ortiz-Lozano dumped Ourzat, who is of Moroccan descent, when he was arrested for drink driving in August 2019.
Ms. Maylin said she “couldn’t deal with his volatility and his drunkenness” any longer.
At the time, they were living together in Southampton, Hants, and she was working for the Norwegian Cruise Line. Mr. Ourzat was a baggage handler for Port Skills at the city docks, the court heard.
The court also heard that when Ms.Ortiz-Lozano told Ourzat to leave, he went on a rampage around the house, damaging the bedroom and bathroom they shared, ripping light fixtures and radiators out of the walls.
He was arrested for criminal damage and then allegedly breached his bail by sending her emails in which he called her a “whore”.
Following the breakup, Miss Ortiz-Lozano met another man, Vincente Breso-Biosca, on Tinder and went on a date with him in September 2019 to Sprinkles ice cream parlor and the Giddy Bridge pub in Southampton.
Ms. Maylin showed the jury CCTV images of Ourzat watching the couple as they sat outside the pub and said he was “hiding in the shadows” so that they did not see him.
The court heard how he went to Tesco, bought some flowers, and took these to Miss Ortiz-Lozano’s house, before returning to the pub and going inside.
Ms. Maylin said that Miss Ortiz-Lozano saw him and immediately asked Mr. Breso-Biosca if they could leave.
On the way back to her house she explained that she had seen her “abusive” ex-boyfriend and that he wasn’t allowed near her due to his bail conditions.
“Mr Ourzat clearly followed them,” Ms. Maylin said. “He is seen on CCTV following them on the opposite side of the street and he loiters or hangs back at road crossings.”
Ms. Maylin told the jury that when Miss Ortiz-Lozano went inside her house she was followed by her ex. Mr. Breso-Biosca was unsure what to do so he stood outside the doors but, on hearing shouting and screaming, he went inside.
“He saw Miss Ortiz-Lozano already lying on her back on the kitchen floor, with Mr Ourzat crouching over her with a knife in one hand and his other on her throat,” Ms. Maylin said.
“She had her eyes open but he believed her already dead, she was not moving.
“He described Mr. Ourzat turning towards him, shutting the door, and continuing his assault on Cristina Ortiz-Lozano.”
She added that Cristina Rodriguez-Lozano, Miss Ortiz-Lozano’s friend and housemate, was asleep but was awoken by ‘loud voices’ and heard Mr. Ourzat screaming Miss Ortiz-Lozano’s name “as if he was calling her back”.
There were three Air BnB guests staying at the house and one of them had pushed their wooden bed up against the door in fear, the court heard.
Police who attended the scene described the kitchen as an “extensively blood-stained room” with “bloody handprints on the walls”.
The court heard how Miss Ortiz-Lozano suffered stab wounds to her chest, neck and abdomen and had “defensive” wounds on her arms, “where she raised her arms in front of her body in an attempt to protect her torso and her neck”.
Ms. Maylin said that Ourzat had told the police that Miss Ortiz-Lozano had invited him into her house before they got into an argument. He denied following her that night and alleged that she had stabbed him first.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
The trial continues.