Matías González Cañón, candidate of the PP in the Pontevedra town of A Illa de Arousa for the next municipal elections, has a history of gender violence after being convicted of mistreating his former partner. The events, which have transcended this Monday, just six days before the electoral appointment, occurred in 2011 and he has already served his sentence.

As stated in the sentence, to which EL MUNDO has had access, the events occurred around five in the morning of February 6, 2011, when the now candidate and his ex-girlfriend were in the street. The relationship had broken up a few months earlier and that day they began arguing and, at one point, he "punched her in the face."

To questions from this newspaper, the provincial PP of Pontevedra has confirmed the "absolute ignorance at the provincial level of this sentence" and has ruled out making more assessments pending the details. So far, no party leader has commented on the matter.

The Criminal Court number 4 of Pontevedra considered him the author of a crime of mistreatment and imposed a sentence of 25 days of work for the benefit of the community, 9 months of prohibition of the right to possess weapons and a restraining order that prevented him from approaching and communicating with his victim for 9 months, as well as communicating with her by any means. You must also compensate your victim with 89.75 euros.

The convicted man himself did not object to the ruling, which he accepted and did not appeal to the Provincial Court of Pontevedra. In fact, although the Prosecutor's Office asked for a sentence of 10 months in prison for him, the judge, Miguel Aramburu García-Pintos, explained that he chose to impose a lesser sentence "taking into account the consent" of the young man himself and also that "the relationship of couple ceased" and the facts "were not a serious aggression, but even with mutual aggressions".

During the trial, his victim stated that the night of the events they were in A Illa de Arousa and he "wanted to accompany her home" and "wanted to enter the house", they began to argue and he grabbed her arm and "punched her twice" in the cheekbone and lip.

In addition to the victim's statement, the judge supports his conviction in "other evidence" that confirmed it, among them, the testimonies of neighbors who slept in the area at that time and "although they did not see the aggression", they did see the victim and "heard his screams". One of those witnesses heard a scream, went out into the street and saw the victim on the ground and with a swollen lip and another heard how the girl said "let me go" to her aggressor and then saw her lying on the ground.

The now candidate was then 22 years old and is currently a security guard and youth football coach. In addition, he is known because he is the son of the historic PP candidate in this Pontevedra town, José González Vázquez, mayor from 2007 to 2019 and now replaced by his own son. He has always been in opposition in this municipality of socialist tradition.

  • Galicia
  • Municipal Elections
  • Pontevedra

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