Saturday December 24, 2022 | 7:00 p.m.
The husband of the non-commissioned police officer attacked with machetes, a little over a week ago, expressed his fear for the alleged freedom of the defendant, while the Justice ordered the holding of a medical board to review the provisional report in which a psychopathy is specified on the part of the defendant for attempted murder and theft.
The attack on First Corporal Vanesa M. (32) occurred inside the Puerto Rico Women’s Police Station in the early hours of Thursday the 15th. Earlier, at midnight on Wednesday, the attacker identified as Paulo W. (29) had assaulted his own father in a house in the town of Garuhapé.
After being intercepted at kilometer 874 of National Route 14, already in the town of Oberá, after escaping from the police headquarters, refueling at a service station on National Route 12 and fleeing without paying, the man was detained. Later, when he had the opportunity to give his version of the facts before the Justice, he refrained from declaring and was charged with attempted homicide and robbery.
The defense, meanwhile, requested his release, which was denied, motivated by the “procedural risk” that his freedom implies. The measure was rejected by Investigative Judge One, Leonardo Manuel Balanda Gómez, according to sources with access to the file.
In this context, the investigations continued and the experts diagnosed that the person involved in the almost fatal attack suffers from a “psychopathy” that requires medication and treatment. Thus, from the Justice they requested a medical board to ratify or rectify the mental condition of the accused.
That is why it is expected that next week the date of the study will be resolved and thus ratify or rectify whether Paulo W. (29) has the psychic capacity to understand the dangerousness of the events.
From this, it will be determined whether or not the dismissal due to imputability corresponds. However, a spokesperson for the case clarified that the dismissal does not mean his freedom, but in the case of the accused’s mental incapacity, the corresponding security measures are taken with treatments in the Loreto Penal Unit or in a private institute if the family so decides it.
“A danger to society”
“What happened is complicated, it is outrageous, it is something that never happened. I am frustrated because I think that she is going to leave, my wife thinks that and she thinks the worst, she is scared. It is difficult because she was almost killed while on duty, so what surprises her is that they almost did not kill her, ”said Sebastián, the victim’s husband, who preferred not to talk about what happened due to the complexity of the traumatic situation.
“The guy was determined to kill,” he asserted and continued: “The guy wildly entered the police station and hit him with machetes without being able to defend himself, he did not give him time because he entered and when he entered it seems that he said ‘because of you’ and there threw him. My wife defended herself with what she could ”.
The victim was at the entrance table of the Police Station and in that line, Sebastián expressed: “You never expect that, you expect that if a person, for example, enters upset, you expect them to want to file a complaint but how can you expect them to enter a madman determined to kill. If at that time of night a madman comes with a machete, you don’t have time to react, or anything”.
When asked about how he found out about the event, he recounted: “When that happened I was lying in my house, around half past twelve. A mobile phone arrives at home quickly and notifies me. I was almost shocked, I was with my son and at that time of night one is calm, what is one going to think that this happens, except at work while on call”.
He explained that they know that the attacker is from Garuhapé and that, apparently, “he walked from here to there half lost, sometimes, but we don’t know him.” He added: “There is talk that they are going to release him – from jail – because he has a problem or something but it is unfair because he is a danger to society.”
“Our family, my family and hers, are devastated. Imagine what it’s like for a father to have his daughter all cut up. It’s very traumatic for them and they think the same thing, that it’s going to come out. They are not comforted because they cannot believe, especially if they hear rumors that she is going out. That he comes out there because his parents have money and they want to take him out, ”he reiterated.
“Supposedly that guy is schizophrenic. From what we heard, he was not medicated and I don’t know if the parents didn’t give him that’s why I also think about considering the parents for having a person like that without the medication,” he said regarding an alleged mental illness of the defendant that will be verified by the medical board ordered by Justice.
The victim, meanwhile, was discharged the Friday following the event and continues healing at home. She “has cuts on her face, near her eye, on her neck, which were the most lethal. That’s where she almost lost her life because she lost a lot of blood. On the forearm and near the chest, in the armpit. All big cuts,” she explained.
“She is recovering from her injuries. Every day is for healing and containment because every time it remembers and it gets bad. My wife is very nice to everyone and that’s just what happens to her. We live in peace and it is unfair, it is all very traumatic. I as a couple saw her and my soul fell to pieces. I want justice to be done, I don’t want this to just stay like that, ”she concluded.
The attack
According to the police reconstruction, the episode began around midnight on Wednesday in the house located in Garuhapé where Paulo W. (29) beat up his father, with whom he shares the house. In the midst of the attack, a group of neighbors who heard the older man’s calls for help arrived at the house and tried to arrest Paulo.
However, he, with the help of his mother, managed to escape through another sector of the property in his Fiat Siena. Always according to the account of the spokespersons consulted, the person involved believed that one of his neighboring police officers was the one who ratted him out to the uniformed officers, so he decided to go in his car to the Puerto Rico Women’s Police Station.
A woman member of the force was on duty at the aforementioned police station and, without saying a word, the excited motorist entered the police headquarters and ran into the corporal, who he gave four cuts with a machete that he had in the vehicle to then escape again on the Siena.
Comrades of the policewoman, who apparently is not the person known by the attacker, immediately transferred the police officer to the local hospital, where she was admitted with a significant cut to her neck that compromised one of her arteries.
In addition, he had other sharp injuries at other points on his neck and one of his arms. Given this picture, she had to be referred to Samic in Eldorado, where she underwent surgery to save her life.
case keys
Attack on his father. According to the data collected by the investigations, the episode began on Wednesday the 14th in a house located in Garuhapé where Paulo W. (29) attacked his father.
“Because of you.” Neighbors intervened but the attacker managed to escape. He went to the police headquarters where he looked for an alleged neighbor and informant of what happened and attacked Corporal Vanessa.
rative bolt. The police began an operation through which they managed to locate and intercept him at kilometer 874 of National Route 14, already in the town of Oberá.
