The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ratified the 30-year prison sentence imposed on José Gregorio Escobar Bustamante, Pedro José Gil Torrado and Elian Alberto Villalobos Castro, accused of participating in the kidnapping of a family.
This decision is explained in judgment No. 415 written by Judge Elsa Gómez and ratified by her colleagues in the courtroom, Carmen Marisela Castro and Maikel Moreno.
The Criminal Court’s ruling states that the events occurred on August 13, 2021 in the Vizcaya urbanization, Baruta municipality (Miranda).
Hooded men arrived at the scene in the morning and were later identified as Escobar Bustamante, Gil Torrado, Villalobos Castro and José Luis Rosal Millán. The presence of these people in the house caused a dog to start barking uncontrollably. That is when a teenager from the family came out to check what was happening. At that moment he was subdued by the criminals who then advanced into the house and overpowered the other members of the family.
Another member of the family, who lives next door, immediately called the police. Meanwhile, the kidnappers searched the house for the belongings, a situation that was interrupted by the arrival of police officers from the Baruta municipality, who negotiated the surrender of the criminals and the three firearms they possessed, says the sentence of the Criminal Court.
Following that arrest, specifically on September 30, 2021, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, represented by prosecutors Yenny Yanisa Leal Armao, Glewill Alexander Barrios and Wilmer Gabriel Bandre Jiménez, requested before the 26th Control Court of Caracas to open a trial against Torrado, Escobar, Gil and Villalobos for the crimes of aggravated brief kidnapping, aggravated robbery in frustration, association and illegal possession of a firearm. In addition, Escobar was charged with possession of explosive devices; while Millán was charged with co-authorship in brief kidnapping.
The trial against these individuals took place between November 1, 2021 and February 2, 2022, when the 22nd Trial Court of Caracas sentenced Gil Torrado, Villalobos Castro and Escobar Bustamante to 30 years in prison. Rosal Millán was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
These sentences were ratified on March 26 by Chamber 10 of the Court of Appeals of Caracas.
Faced with this setback, the defendants’ lawyers went to the Criminal Court to claim that the Court of Appeals’ ruling that upheld the convictions lacked motivation. The judges dismissed this claim due to “inconsistencies in the arguments.”
