The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed a cassation appeal (appeal) that sought to reverse the 30-year prison sentence imposed on Francisco Pantoja Gómez, accused of committing sexual abuse against his 7-year-old stepdaughter.
Such decision is contained in sentence No. 203 written by Judge Carmen Marisela Castro Gilly. The Chamber analyzed the three complaints contained in the appeal and observed a “deficient justification”, which is why it was dismissed as “manifestly unfounded”.
Pantoja Gómez was denounced by his partner every time he surprised him “mounted on top of his daughter who was face down with her panties and shorts down.” This event occurred on May 7, 2016 in the home they both shared located in the Los Naranjos urbanization, Guacara (Carabobo).
As a result of that complaint, Pantoja Gómez was arrested and presented on May 19, 2016 before the 1st Court of Control in Matters of Crimes of Violence against Women of Carabobo. The Public Ministry charged continued sexual abuse with anal and vaginal penetration of a girl, says the sentence.
The trial against Pantoja Gómez took place between October 9, 2017 and December 18 of that same year, the date on which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Said decision was appealed, but the Carabobo Court of Appeals dismissed the arguments.
Subsequently, Pantoja Gómez’s defenders went to the Criminal Court where they filed three complaints. One of them is related to the presumed absence of an oral and public trial. At that point, the magistrates replied that this is contradictory because the same lawyer left “it understood that the oral hearing was held… an act in which he was questioned by the members of the Court of Appeals.”
