Thursday April 27, 2023 | 4:00 p.m.
On the night of May 1, 2021, the tragedy mourned the community of the Kilometer 28 area of the town of Campo Viera. A 20-year-old man was killed with a punch to the abdomen and four others – three men and one girl – were accused and arrested for the act.
They were all acquaintances or friends sharing a party, but the excessive consumption of alcohol and a discussion about music led to the irreparable. One life was cut short and four were marked forever.
Yesterday, almost two years after the fact, Pablo Daniel Espíndola (21), Darío Alejandro Pío (23), Laura Viviana Batista (24) and her boyfriend Alexandro Mario Becker (20) began to be tried for the murder of David Anselmo “Napy ” Ferreyra (20).
The first appears as the most compromised since he is considered the material author of the act and is accused of simple homicide. Pío came to the debate accused of being a primary participant, while Batista and Becker were implicated as secondary participants.
According to the request for trial, between 9:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on May 1, 2021, all those involved were at the house of Batista and Becker, a circumstance in which they argued with Ferreyra, who escaped from the place and the defendants chased him.
Investigation witnesses declared that the defendants chased the victim, caught up with him and beat him. It was then that Pío held him and Espíndola punched him in the abdomen. Ferreyra passed away at the local hospital.
Among the most compromising testimonies is that of Samuel Pellizzer, who affirmed that Ferreyra ran through the patio of his house and was followed by a “gang with stones, sticks, machetes and knives.” He then heard that he asked for help because he was going to die.
The accusation
Always based on the contribution of the witnesses of the investigation -who as of today must ratify or rectify their statements before the Criminal Court One of Oberá-, Napy Ferreyra was under the influence of alcohol and, in the first instance, injured Gladis Barboza, the mother of the accused Batista.
In this context, Barboza mentioned that to defend her, her daughter ran to Ferreyra with a stick. In the same sense, Isidro Batista declared, who said that her sister Laura defended her mother.
Already in the enlargement, the mother of the accused indicated that between Espíndola and Pío they said, “we are going to run because I poked him and the cap is going to come”, alluding to the punch suffered by the victim.
For her part, Karina Pío mentioned that those involved, including her brother Alejandro, attacked the victim, and that she could not intervene because she had her baby in her arms. She said Ferreyra ran out and then heard screaming.
Batista (left) and Becker were the only defendants who testified yesterday.
Meanwhile, Pablo Espíndola Sr. acknowledged that the defendants buried the knife in his garden, where it was found by the Police.
After the reading, José Federico Padolsky and Beatriz Victoria Beltrame, individual defenders of Batista and Becker, requested the annulment of the prosecutor’s indictment for alleged shortcomings, which was rejected by the Court chaired by Francisco Aguirre, who is seconded by José Pablo Rivero and Horace Paniagua.
Espíndola is sponsored by lawyer Ramón Bridier, while Pío is assisted by the official defender Marías Olivera. The prosecutor Estela Salguero acts.
The spark of tragedy
Of the four defendants, only Batista and Becker decided to testify the day before, while Espíndola and Pío abstained, at least for the moment.
The young woman acknowledged that she has a previous sentence of five years in prison for violation of the Narcotics Law, although she was benefited from house arrest for being the mother of a little girl.
Before the Court, Batista mentioned that she was a friend of the victim, although she commented that he was violent and mistreated his wife and son. But above all he insisted that that night he acted in defense of his mother.
“Napy (Ferreyra) was always looking for trouble and that night he was drunk. My husband went to bed because the next day he worked in the dryer, but he immediately got up and said that the party is over, turn off the music. My husband went out to guard the benches and Napy hit him,” the young woman explained.
Visibly moved, she added that Ferreyra “injured my husband and my mother with a saw. I jumped to my mom’s defense and threw a stick at her to make her go away. My mom was bleeding from the head and he kicked her on the floor, so I threw a stick at her. I realize that if I didn’t defend my mom, she would now be dead.
In that section, Judge Aguirre asked him what was the spark that unleashed the tragedy: “It was when we turned off the music,” Batista said.
“Napy was drinking all day, I know why he gave him ice because he didn’t have a fridge. He had already hit the woman. He always hit her and she took refuge in my house, ”he added.
“He left my house alive”
The accused mentioned that her mother was the one who called the Police, although the authority took time to arrive.
“Napy did what he wanted with my family and the Police arrived two hours late. He was my friend, but I hit him to defend my mom, ”he clarified.
Consulted in this regard, she denied that they had persecuted the victim and threw stones at her home.
“He left my house alive,” he remarked, while adding: “Pío and Espíndola stayed inside my house and after a while they left.”
To illustrate Ferreyra’s previous state, Batista commented that “he was shooting at the target with the knife on the wooden wall of my house, and he said ‘today they kill me or I kill someone.’ That’s why I asked him and kept the knife, because there were many creatures.”
Due to the circumstances described, she stated that she could not believe when they told her that she was arrested for the homicide. She also asked that the Court have clemency for her daughter, who during her confinement would have been a victim of sexual abuse, she affirmed.
In turn, Becker confirmed his partner’s version and said that the night of the event he went to bed because it was already late and he had to work the next day.
“They were making noise, so I told my wife to tell them that the party is over, to leave. Napy came and threw me a pineapple, I was half unconscious. My wife handed me a rag for the blood and my mother-in-law told Napy to leave the house, but then she cut my mother-in-law with a saw, ”she said.
He denied having persecuted the victim and did not see what Espíndola and Pío did. “I didn’t hear that they said they were going to kill him,” he said.
After Becker’s statement, the Court ordered an intermission room until today, at 8:30 a.m., when the first witnesses called will be admitted.
