He said, she

He said she threw herself from the stairs,
leaving one shoe behind as a souvenir.

He said she strangled and hung herself
with the phone chord at the booth.

He said she slipped and split her head and bled out
because she locked herself in the bathroom—from the outside.

He said she just turned up in his closet, all carved up.
I guess she wasn’t so good with knives, he said.

He said she left the gas open in the stove
and then cut off her own hair.
He said his other two girlfriends did the same.

He said she shot herself in the face—twice.

He said she decided to stop fighting him,
to stop breathing, he said.
Finally she just was quiet. So, so quiet.

Author’s note: These sentences are taken from real statements made in court by suspects during femicide trials in Mexico. Some of these comments were even taken into serious consideration by  the judges.