The Court of Hearings of La Pampa declared the mother of the child, Magdalena Espósito Valenti, the material author of the “triplely qualified homicide by the cruelty, treachery and the bond “but she was acquitted for sexual abuse, while the judges understood that her partner Abigail Páez was the material author of the “homicide qualified by cruelty and treachery and by seriously insulting sexual abuse” of Lucio.
? LUCIO REST IN PEACE | PERPETUAL FOR THE MURDERERS
– The moment of reading the verdict
– On February 13, the fundamentals
? You can read and download the full ruling at: https://t.co/nxOYf8OvGt pic.twitter.com/3qcMoBrM0P— Via Szeta (@mauroszeta) February 2, 2023
As reported by Clarín, on February 13 the sentence that the convicted women will receive will be known. However, the crimes and aggravating circumstances that they were accused of indicate that they will receive life imprisonment.
The main arguments of the judges
The magistrates accredited that on November 26, 2021, approximately between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., inside the home where the women lived with the child, Abigail Páez and Magdalena Espósito Valenti “physically assaulted Lucio Dupuy causing him multiple injuries that later caused his death”.
To reach that conclusion, the judges listed various circumstances that are transcribed below:
– “In addition to the existence of physical, psychological and sexual violence, exerted on Lucio Dupuy -at least- during the last months of his life; On November 26, both defendants exercised acts of physical violence that caused her death.”
– “In this violent evolution it is possible to notice a crescendo of violence, in light of the chats held between the two defendants, starting in mid-October 2021, from which time the irritation that the child evidently caused in both of them was exacerbated and the risk that this would break their sentimental relationship, something neither of them seemed willing to put up with. This appears in an extremely graphic way in the conversation held on October 18, in which Magdalena Espósito Valenti states that she would not allow Lucio to prevent “our relationship from flowing” ”.
– “It is corroborated -also- in the severe injuries that Lucio Dupuy suffered a few days before (6 or 7 days) on November 26, described in the autopsy, consisting of large bruises in the right groin area and on the right buttock , so serious that, according to the forensic doctor, “it must have made it difficult for him to walk.”
– “The child’s death was declared at 9:45 p.m. by Dr. Argüello, although we know that he was already dead at the Evita Hospital, at approximately 9:30 p.m., according to the statements by the doctor Argüello himself and the nurses Aldama and Howes. All of them reported that the child was unconscious, had no pulse and was not breathing.
– “But even before, when Abigail Páez left the house with Lucio Dupuy in her arms, the child was already dead, as reported by Edgardo Mourino and the retired nurse Elsa Quintín, who indicated that he did not have a pulse. The vomit expelled in circumstances that was being attended to by this last witness, was explained by the forensic doctor as a vagal reflex of the person when she is already dead.
– “Expertly, the time of death of Lucio Dupuy was defined between 7 and 9 pm. on November 26″
– “But the most interesting data is that related to the production of injuries that later led to the death of Lucio Dupuy, which was determined between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m. and, more precisely, the forensic doctor maintained that the most serious cases can be located 15 or 20 minutes before 7:00 p.m., a period of time in which -as has already been said- the defendants were alone with the child in Your domicile”.
– ”This allows one to rule out outright the defense attempted by Abigail Páez, which places her in a better procedural situation and – fundamentally – Magdalena Espósito Valenti, whom she directly excludes from the scene at the time of the physical attack that took place on November 26.”
– “Abigail Páez’s statement is mendacious. As stated, by the time she returned to the apartment, Lucio Dupuy had died as a result of injuries that occurred previously. But her falsehood is even more evident if we consider that, like every allusion to the mark stamped on the child’s shoulder blade, she maintains that “she touched it with her foot to see if she would react”; puerile argument that totally clashes with the intensity that it must have had not only to leave that imprint on the skin, but to cause the tearing of internal organs”.
– “The cause of death was cerebral edema as a consequence of polytraumatismsa circumstance that Dr. Toulouse expanded upon during the debate, explaining that this edema, since the skull cannot swell, as would happen with any other part of the body, causes the cerebellar tonsils to become stuck, which causes cardiac arrest. But he also explained that other internal injuries indicated in the autopsy would have caused death due to hypovolemia, if the cardiac arrest that naturally stopped blood flow had not occurred.”.
– “The multiple injuries caused in that period have a very different etiology. On the one hand, there are bites on the glans penis and on the left arm (which can be interpreted as defensive); bruises on the head, on the right and left side, some made with/against a flat object and others from a fist bump; nummular bruises on the chest, caused by a broomstick with a rounded tip; bruises on the inner side of the left thigh, caused by a scratch and others in the inguinal area that exceed the scratch and look like dragging and, finally, multiple injuries to the back and specifically a “stomp” on the shoulder blade strong enough to cause internal injuries in the abdominal areaamong other tears of the liver.
– “The authorship of this last injury could be determined with total precision, since the mark on the skin of the shoulder blade corresponds perfectly to the shoe that Abigail Páez had placed at the time; This is not the case for the rest, mainly due to the characteristics of this type of intramural events, to which reference has already been made and which entail difficulties –although not the impossibility- when it comes to the historical reissue of the events”.
– “It deals with multiple injuries, of different etiology, carried out in a relatively short time, in a small area, within the walls, all of which determines the actions of both defendants exerting violence on the child, without being able to specify if this was done properly. joint or alternative.
– “As said, this is also compatible with the psychological structure and the characteristics of the relationship of both defendants. Both have a perverse personality, characterized by traits of irritability, aggressiveness and impulsiveness (passage to the act), absence of guilt, remorse and lack of empathy, manipulative capacity, deceit and simulation”.
sexual abuse
The judges determined that Lucio was the victim of various repeated sexual assaults for at least two months, details of which are avoided in this chronicle. However, the evidence gathered did not allow the magistrates to infer that both defendants were the perpetrators of these attacks.
“Although then I have no doubts about the occurrence of the event, the manner, time and element used (or at least one of them); Yes, on the other hand, I believe that the accusing parties have only managed to produce proof regarding the authorship of one of them: Abigail Páez”, it was specified.
Esposito Valenti was then benefited by the benefit of the doubt based on one of the guiding principles of criminal law: in doubt pro reo.
Related note: Lucio’s crime in Argentina: autopsy reveals that he was also a victim of sexual abuse
“Regarding the proposed legal classification, the accusations referred in this regard that it is a matter of seriously outrageous sexual abuse due to the circumstances of its realization, with carnal access via anal, aggravated by having been the guardian, with the premeditated aid of two people and taking advantage of the pre-existing coexistence with respect to a minor under 18 years of age, as a continuing crime ”, the court detailed.
autopsy
The most important, perhaps, of the evidence presented at the trial was the autopsy. She was exposed by Juan Carlos Toulousethe doctor who carried out the study of the body of Pikein the fourth hearing of the oral debate.
Before the magistrates, Toulouse reaffirmed that the child died due to a “fierce beating” and that it presentedinjuries to various parts of the bodyaccording to judicial sources.
He claimed that he had been a victim of sexual abuse “recent and old data”, at the same time that he presented “a strong blow that affected his hip, gluteus and leg, with a date of 7 to 8 days”.
“There was a specific attack that caused his death”, according to the autopsy presented in the case. Lucio died from internal bleeding caused by a beating. In addition to the signs of abuse, he presented burns and bites.
The forensic document also showed that, like Fernando Baez Sosa, Lucio had the sole of a shoe marked on his back. Thanks to an expertise scopometricit was determined that the footwear belonged to Abigail Paezmother’s girlfriend.
“Abigail Páez stepped on him so hard on his little back that, probably, his heart burst along with different organs”, revealed the doctors who spoke at the trial.
The chats between the accused
As revealed infobae, the conversations that the defendants had, among them, through WhatsApp in the months prior to the murder became essential evidence. Basically because there they recounted the punishments that they gave the baby.
“Don’t let your hand go, we’re going to send a shit”was one of the messages that Lucio’s mother sent to his girlfriend when there were a few days left before the murder. “I’m fed up. I have to spend all day with this asshole”was a habitual response in Abigaíl Páez.
Before an episode, from October 2021, in which Lucio vomited, the defendants spoke among themselves about the punishment that was applied to the baby. “How did you hit him? She has vomited twice now.” After that Mother’s girlfriend wrote: “I don’t even want to see Lucio because it makes my life bitter”.
