Ana María P.H. is a 50-year-old woman from Cuba who stands accused of murdering her husband.

She admitted to having administered sleeping tablets to him and then strangled him with a belt as he lay semiconscious.

The couple, who lived in Guadix, wed in October 2008 just two months after having met in Cuba. From March 2009 things started to go downhill in their relationship, resulting in frequent and heated arguments.

It all ended on the afternoon of the 25th of August with the final row, when the woman allegedly decided to rid herself of him. Administering a high dosage of lorazepam which produces anxiolytic and hypnotic effects; i.e. leaving you spaced out. She then reportedly put a belt around his neck and strangled him in his defenceless state.

After dispatching him, she used his mobile to make several calls to Cuba before hiding it inside a printer, but not before erasing all record of the calls on the phone.

Finally, she spent the entire night of the crime practicing African witchcraft or voodoo rites (santería) over the corpse.

The very next morning however, she went and confessed her crime to the Guardia Civil, but not before phoning the man’s sister to do the same.

…And no, the woman featured in the article photograph is not Ana – although she does look somewhat shifty – but she is an example of a Santaría Cubana practitioner.

(News: Guadix, Granada, Andalucia)