The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed two resources that sought to annul the conviction imposed on Rafael Antonio Hernández Contreras and Darwin Daniel Perozo Castillo, found guilty of the perpetrated homicide against the priest José Manuel de Jesús Ferreira (39), assigned to the San Juan Bautista Church, San Carlos (Cojedes).
Such decision is contained in Judgment 044 drafted by Judge Carmen Marisela Castro and supported by her colleagues in the Criminal Chamber, Elsa Gómez and Maikel Moreno.
The events occurred on the night of October 20, 2020 on Alegría Street, crossing with Zamora Street, Parish House of the San Juan Bautista Church of the capital of Cojedeña. At that time, the priest went out to fire some parishioners who were in a mass.
And already on the street, Hernández Contreras and Perozo Castillo broke up, who submitted the priest as well as the two women who said goodbye.
One of those women was taken by one of the criminals who pointed it with a firearm. Father José Manuel tried to rescue her and the offender assaulted him two shots, one of them at the thorax level, which merited his transfer to the hospital where he entered lifeless.
Hernández Contreras and Perozo Castillo fled from the site and even the next day they tried to leave Venezuela towards Colombia, plans that were frustrated after being arrested in Barinas.
After the apprehension, they were prosecuted between August 18, 2021 and August 15, 2023, before the First Court of Judgment of Cojedes. At the initial hearing, Johan Daniel Ruiz Silva, the third defendant, decided to admit his participation in the criminal acts, for which he was imposed a 10 -year prison sentence.
While, at the end of the trial, Hernández was sentenced to 16 years in prison and Perozo to 10, for intentional homicide committed in the execution of a robbery, a sanction that was confirmed by the Criminal Chamber on February 13.
