The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed an appeal filed by defense lawyers of Robert Gustavo Terán Barrios (28), who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing his pregnant partner, Giannely Esther Pirrongelli Pumiaca (23).
Such a decision is contained in sentence number 569 written by Judge Carmen Marisela Castro and which had the endorsement of her colleagues, Elsa Gómez and Maikel Moreno. The sentence states that the events occurred on September 23, 2020 in the home where the couple lived together located in El Callao (Bolívar). That day, Terán Barrios beat Giannely which required his transfer to the Gervasio Vera hospital, located in Upata (Bolívar), where he died on September 25 of that year.
One day before her death, Giannely was able to send her sister a message via cell phone where she told her that her partner hit her by grabbing her by the neck and hitting her against a mirror. The autopsy showed the cause of death as “acute respiratory failure resulting from mechanical asphyxiation.” The deceased was eight months pregnant.
As a result of that event, Terán Barrios was accused of aggravated femicide and for this reason the Public Ministry requested his prosecution before the First Court of Control, Hearing and Measures with Competence in Crimes of Violence against Women of the state of Bolívar, Tumeremo extension, approach that was agreed on July 23, 2021.
The trial against the subject took place between November 8, 2021 and April 20, 2022, when the court handed down a sentence of 30 years in prison for Terán Barrios for aggravated femicide.
This sentence was confirmed on April 12 of this year by the Court of Appeals of the Southern Region of the state of Bolívar based in Puerto Ordaz.
Given that decision, Terán Barrios’s defenders went to the Criminal Chamber of Venezuela’s highest court to request the annulment of the trial held against the subject and that a new one be held where they can prove “his non-criminal responsibility.”
The judges analyzed this approach and found weaknesses in the way it was presented, which is why they rejected it.
The Criminal Chamber of the TSJ recalled that the appeals courts are not there to evaluate the evidence presented during a trial, since that corresponds to the courts of first instance.
