The family of Tahiel Contrerasthe six-year-old boy who was hit and killed in 2020 in the Buenos Aires district of La Matanza as a consequence of a illegal bite, awaits “exemplary justice” on the eve of the oral and public trial that will begin this Monday at the National University of La Matanza.
The trial, in charge of Criminal Court No. 4 made up of judges Nicolás Grappasonno, Gerardo Clemente Gayol and Franco Fiumara, begins at 9 am and is estimated to last at least two days.
The defendants Nahuel Agustín Olivera, a 24-year-old baker, a native of Gregorio de Laferrere, and Alexis Leonel Escribanti, a 26-year-old radiologist techniciana native of Villa Luzuriaga, according to the 2021 trial request document, “knew each other” and came to this instance with “effective prison” and differentiated defenses, indicated the lawyer for the injured party, Alberto Palacio.
The legal qualification is “Illegal speed test – known as ‘picada‘– in real contest with simple homicide -de Tahiel- as eventual fraud in an ideal contest with repeated minor injuries on two occasions -to Tahiel’s mother and father-“. It is about at least three crimes.
“In general, the sentences for simple homicide are from 8 to 25 years and, in this case, the competition means that one can ask for a longer sentence,” Palacio said.
“We are going for the highest possible penalty, which would represent an important event in the path of general justice for the victims of traffic incidents”he added.
Meanwhile, the document for elevation to trial specified the evidence collected so far. Among them, videos from public and private security cameras, accidentological, autopsy, and toxicological reports, police reports and testimonial statements.
“Each witness from their place contributed something important: the lady who was on the busthe boy who was working at the service station that day, the lady who was crossing, other drivers,” said the lawyer. “We hope that those who have already testified in the investigation stage will say again what they saw on Monday,” he added. .
The crime happened in a pandemicon September 13, 2020, after 4:00 p.m. at the intersection of Provincial Route No. 21 and the Soldado Sosa artery in the town of Laferrere, a “densely populated” area.
As stated in the case, Escribanti was aboard a Volkswagen, Vento model and Olivera aboard a Chevrolet Corsa modelwhen they “decided” to carry out the illegal dive, driving along the route at a “superlative” speed, avoiding other cars and “creating a situation of danger to the life or physical integrity of the people who were traveling on the public highway,” they pointed out .
When losing control of the vehicles, according to the investigation, the Corsa collided with a third vehicle that was circulating according to regulations in the slow lane, and was displaced towards the sidewalk, where Luciano Guillermo Contreras, Noelia Abigail Díaz – parents of the child- and Tahiel, who were waiting to cross to go have an ice cream and then “surprise him by going to the plaza -in the framework of isolation due to the pandemic-“the mother replied in dialogue with Télam.
The three suffered polytraumatisms, but in the case of Tahiel he died on the spotthey explained. At that moment, Escribanti “fled the place.”
The judicial process began when the Court of Guarantees 5 of La Matanza issued on October 14, 2020 the Olivera and Escribanti preventive prison.
The judge of Guarantees Gustavo Banco endorsed the request made by the head of the prosecutor’s office 1 of La Matanza, Gastón Duplaá, considering that “the characteristics of the facts are extremely serious.” In the resolution, Judge Banco pointed out against the attitude assumed by Olivera at the time of the eventand revealed that he was more concerned about his broken car than what he had caused.
Initially, the case was in charge of the prosecutor Fernando Garate, from UFI No. 1 of Laferrere, who accused Olivera of simple homicide with eventual intent. And the day after the incident, members of the Police also arrested Escribanti, accused of the same crime.
Then, the cause turned to the UFI specialized in Homicide of La Matanzain charge of the prosecutor Duplaá, who after taking an investigative statement from the suspects, requested their preventive detention and then the elevation of the case to trial.
“The process presented the complication of the last moments of the pandemic, everything was done virtually, but it is not a cause that is delayed,” he told Télam. the prosecutor of the UFI specialized in Homicide of La Matanza, Sergio Alejandro Antin.
“The Laferrere community felt moved and injured by this fact. It is a very popular neighborhood of workers who accompanied Noelia and Luciano,” Palacio replied.
The family spent these two years and five months “destroyed” and “dead in life”said Díaz, for the murder of Tahiel, his only son. The mother remembered the boy as a “sweet, intelligent and affectionate” person.
“Tahiel will not return. We hope for exemplary justice, a small relief after so much suffering, that it be perpetual. They were aware of what they were doing, they went out to kill,” he added. The family lives a block and a half from the scene.
“Every day I have to cross that place because I have no other way, and it is very difficult to see that the same thing continues to happen,” denounced the woman, who from this fact also joined the National Road Safety Agency (ANSV) as a conscientizer in driver education schools in the area.
The ANSV collaborated with the Justice during the process under the figure of “amicus curiae” (friends of the court) and attended the family from the first moment.
In October 2020, presented the Tahiel-Kevin Law project in the National Congress (in homage to the son of Viviam Perrone), who is waiting for his parliamentary progress and seeks to create the figure of “road homicide” equating it to that of simple homicide, which provides for a penalty of 8 to 25 years in prison for anyone who causes a death running illegal chopped, they specified, among other key points.
The project was presented again in May 2022 “so that it does not lose parliamentary status” and this year in ordinary sessions “we will return to the charge to try to get it out,” national deputy Ramiro Gutiérrez (Frente de Todos), a signatory of the The initiative.
“What results from this trial will be very important. so that we return to the charge asking for the law. Running a dive on an avenue cannot be considered an accident,” the executive director of the ANSV, Pablo Martínez Carignano, concluded to Télam.
