Tuesday May 16, 2023 | 5:15 p.m.
Santiago Pissani, 55, regained his freedom after being transferred yesterday afternoon to Investigating Court Two, where he was notified of his release. They also ordered him to prohibit approaching the alleged victim of the beating.
Given the decision of the intervening magistrate, the former martial arts champion left the cell of the Third Police Station in Posadas, where he was housed for nine days after being reported for injuries and threats towards a pizza delivery man.
As El Territorio opportunely reported, the possibility that Pissani could regain his freedom this week was very close. Since Sebastián Lafuente, the young man attacked, presented a brief to the prosecutor Christian Antúnez, last Friday.
In the text, Lafuente stated that he had reached a conciliation agreement with the businessman. This was a key edge to accelerate the decision of the Judge, Juan Manuel Monte, regarding the release of the defendant.
Therefore, the 55-year-old man was released but will continue to be subject to the file that has him accused of savagely beating a delivery motorcycle, which occurred in the last minutes of May 1, in front of his home located on Barrufaldi street. almost Uruguay avenue.
According to official sources, this morning paper was able to verify that the conciliation agreement was signed by the defense of the businessman and the young man before the end of the second week of the month. However, the Judge of Instruction Two decided to grant the release just after the weekend.
Sources of the case indicated that Santiago Pissani arrived at the Court located on Santa Fe Street around 1:00 p.m., aboard a police patrol.
Without handcuffs on, he was escorted by a uniformed officer to Judge Monte’s office, where he signed the notice and was released.
Meanwhile, he did not want to give statements at the exit of the judicial building. But he announced that he will give a press conference in the next few days.
The agression
The attack, which went viral and has been a topic of interest in recent weeks, became known around 11:50 p.m. on the first Monday of the month.
Lafuente had gone to the businessman’s private home to deliver two pizzas, which the latter had previously requested.
At home, Pissani had claimed that his order was delayed, which is why he told him that he would not pay for the entire meal, throwing the merchandise on the ground and aggressively telling him to leave.
Ever since the young man’s presentation to the Police, the alleged victim added that when he left the house, the man came out to confront him, pushing him off the motorcycle, causing him to fall to the asphalt. Then, she held him on the ground, leaving him face down.
Given this, Lafuente energetically asked him to let him go. But the businessman ignored the request and began to give him brutal blows to his face. Later, at one point, Pissani stopped his assault and threatened to kill the 23-year-old if he ratted him out.
“If you get to me, I’m going to look for you and I’m going to blow everything up,” the champion of different martial arts warned him, as he returned to his home.
Due to the incident, according to official sources, Lafuente ended up with injuries to his eye, neck -product of his helmet strap- and left cheekbone.
police search
Throughout the days after the complaint of the motomandado was known, where a video showing part of the aggression also went viral, the case added different seasonings.
One of them was the radio note that the defendant himself gave two days later in the morning to give his version of the facts, where he said that he was calm at home, waiting to be called by Justice.
But when a police commission went looking for him that same afternoon at his home, he did not make himself available to Justice and from there they searched for him in different buildings in the city.
During the radio interview, the merchant and former Greco-Roman wrestling champion clarified that at no time did he threaten his complainant with a knife. And that he defended himself from a first attack that he received from the delivery.
Regarding the incident, Pissani explained that “when the boy came I interpreted that he had nothing to do with it. They gave the kid the pizza, and he brought it to me. So I tell him that everything is fine and that he take the pizza that came cold and take it to these people because they can’t keep me waiting two hours and bring me the cold pizza”.
He acknowledged that he did not have an attitude appropriate to the situation, but denied having started an attack. “I was wrong because I threw the pizza on the floor and then I picked it up and gave it to his hand,” she said.
According to the story made by the merchant, the situation continued with the young man arguing that the refund would make him lose his income for the trip, to which Pissani replied “you take him and if they discount the pizza, I’ll give you the money.” tomorrow, and I’ll pay you for the delivery now.
There he said that the conversation got out of control and that is when, according to the businessman, the delivery began with the aggression. “The boy gets angry. He started filming there, I push him and tell him to go away ”. There he gets off and he tells me, ‘I’m going to shit on you’ and he kicks me. I react in defense and throw him to the ground, I climb on top and he did not calm down. I touched him a little, I didn’t even hit him because you can see in the video that I’m patting him. And I speak to him well, I tell him I’m going to let you go, you’re going to get on your motorcycle and you’re going to go, ”he clarified.
Although when asked about the arrest request that weighed on him, he assured that until then he had not been notified of anything and that he was at home. “No one came looking for me or they sent me a summons, because if they send me a summons I go to court,” he mentioned.
In relation to the latter, after four days of being searched for in different parts of the city, and when the police had him practically surrounded, the businessman decided to make himself available and appeared in the Second Investigating Court to later be detained and housed. in the third section.
Support from colleagues to the whistleblower
Delivery men, from different companies, held a protest on Avenida Uruguay in the provincial capital on Thursday, May 4, to give their support to the 23-year-old.
In their demonstration, in addition to accompanying the assaulted worker and requesting the arrest of the merchant, the self-summoned also demanded better working conditions so that situations such as those experienced by Lafuente are not repeated.
