The Argentine court orders the release of a businessman suspected of killing a Brazilian

Marcio Resende, RFI correspondent in Buenos Aires

Francisco Sáenz Valiente, 52, suspected of having pushed the Brazilian Emmily Rodrigues Santos Gomes, 26, from the rear window of his apartment, was released early Wednesday morning, following the decision of Judge Martín del Viso. He ruled the lack of merit for the defendant to remain in prison. The businessman was arrested on March 30, when Emmily fell from the sixth floor of the building in Buenos Aires.

The lack of merit implies that the suspect will remain free while the investigations progress. The decision was announced by the judge shortly after midnight on Wednesday.

“My client Francisco Sáenz Valiente is leaving prison at this time. After a lot of work, the Justice has considered our defense. It is a very difficult case with several unpublished points. Several measures of evidence are still missing, but my client will respond to the investigations in freedom,” lawyer Rafael Cúneo Liberona told RFI at 1:10 this morning.

On the other hand, the attorney for the Prosecutor’s Office, Ignacio Trimarco, hired by Emmily’s family, explained to RFI that he has up to three days to file an appeal. “We will appeal this resolution so that it becomes a processing of the indictment and we will continue proposing measures to clarify the fact,” warned Trimarco, who admitted that “the businessman will not return to prison if there is no final conviction, all instances have been exhausted.” .

three weeks of mystery

In his sentence, Judge Martín del Viso limited the actions of the defendant, who will not be able to leave the country and must appear before the court every 15 days, even virtually. He will also not be able to approach the parents of the victim, Cátia Rodrigues Santos and Aristides da Silva Gomes, nor the witnesses, the Cuban Dafne Santana, who left the apartment at 6 in the morning; Argentina’s Lía Alves, who left at 8 in the morning; and the Brazilian doctor Juliana Magalhães Mourão, the only witness to Emmily’s death. It was she who introduced the Brazilian to the businessman Francisco hours before the tragedy.

In his decision, the judge indicates that the other Brazilian does not have to have been an eyewitness and that the evidence is not sufficient for a full accusation.

“Although shouts were heard and some person [vecinos] noticed the fall of the victim, everything seems to indicate that the outcome occurred without even the presence of the only witness [Juliana Mourão] who was at the scene during the confusing episode. The evidence is not enough to really clarify what happened nor does it reveal the context of the events. Although, to remove the obstacles that these cases of alleged extreme gender violence usually present, a broad evidentiary standard is applied, the presumptions are not enough to dispel the doubts surrounding the accusation,” said Judge Martín del Viso.

The version of unconscious suicide gains strength

The decision to grant the request for release formulated by the defense of Francisco Sáenz Valiente is considered a clear sign that the version of the death of the Brazilian Emmily Gomes by suicide under the influence of hallucinogens prevails over that of the accusation of femicide to cover up an attempted sexual assault.

“Emmily had been drinking alcohol and using drugs since ten o’clock the night before. It was eleven hours of consumption. That’s the problem with all this: a psychotic break due to high consumption and the mixture of drugs. And then, unfortunately, resulted in this [la muerte]”said the defense attorney, Rafael Cúneo Libarona.

The accusation has another version: “It could be that there was a sexual abuse due to drug use and that, at a given moment, the victim recovered his state of consciousness and, when he realized what was happening to him, he began to scream asking for help and, unfortunately, she ended up being thrown from the sixth floor,” says lawyer Ignacio Trimarco.

“It’s not that someone wanted to sexually abuse her. She perceived that attempt and had a psychotic break. Nobody understood what was happening. The witnesses saw the psychotic break with their own eyes,” rebuts Cúneo Libarona.

In order to convince the judge to determine the “lack of merit” in all the crimes, ordering the immediate release of the defendants, the statements of the witnesses who admitted the consumption of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and pink cocaine, a synthetic drug that May cause hallucinogenic effects.

“The statements of the witnesses who were in the apartment indicate that Emmily had used drugs. One of the witnesses, Lía Alves, said that she had left the apartment because she was afraid of Emmily. With this testimony, we can prove the psychotic outbreak, “he said Cuneo Libarona.

Remember that after leaving the apartment, the witness Lía Alves sent messages to the businessman in which she described Emmily as the protagonist of the movie “The Exorcist”, without knowing that the Brazilian had already jumped. “It was a spontaneous conversation,” the lawyer guarantees.

The calls to the emergency number by the businessman himself were also decisive for the decision to release him.

The calls to the emergency number made by the businessman himself were also decisive for the decision to release him.

“How is it possible for a person who wants to kill another person to call the police twice before the murder and all in less than two minutes? Impossible. He called 911 twice. Emmily escaped, broke the window and jumped out. The police He arrived as soon as he fell because Sáenz Valiente called”, describes Cúneo Libarona.

The calls were recorded at 9:10 a.m. and 9:13 a.m. on March 30. The crash occurred at 9:18 a.m., five minutes later.

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Emmily’s family lawyer, Ignacio Trimarco, had two pieces of evidence to support the argument of sexual abuse: the presence of used condoms in the trash and an injury that would indicate resistance on the part of Emmily to be thrown out of the window.

However, forensics concluded that the condoms were old, without traces of semen or blood, and that the injury was not conclusive because it was compatible with defensive maneuvers.

The forensic doctor in charge of the autopsy, Héctor Di Salvo, even affirmed that there was a white foam in the region of the mouth that would be compatible with drug use. In addition, Emmily fell without shielding herself with her hands, an indication that she was unaware of what she was doing.

According to Di Salvo, all the injuries were compatible with a fall. There were no injuries compatible with sexual abuse. The result of the toxicological examination will not be known until within fifteen days.

After spending 20 days in jail, the businessman will be released, accused and subjected to trial, but without a criminal record.