Diego García, the former Estudiantes de La Plata player prosecuted for raping a young woman, must take his defense to an oral trial. The Chamber of Appeals and Guarantees of La Plata rejected the request for dismissal requested by the defense and confirmed the elevation to oral trial issued by the Judge of Guarantees Paul Raele at the request of the prosecutor Cecilia Corfield. The soccer player faces a sentence of effective compliance in a prison, between 6 and 15 years.
The waitresses don’t they believed the defendant’s version and you gave absolute credibility to the victim’s complaintwhich was also corroborated with other evidence in the investigation such as medical examinations carried out by official experts and testimonial statements.
It should be remembered that in his first instance decision Judge Raele had already answered each of the proposals for annulment of the defense in charge of the lawyer Diego Hernan Bandinwhile ruling out the dismissal attempted by that party and recalling that the case must be analyzed “from a gender perspective”, confirmed legal sources to 0221.com.ar.
The complaint for “sexual abuse with carnal access” occurred after a meeting in a fifth of the neighborhood The rodeo. During the afternoon and evening of February 24, 2021 some footballers (among them Nazarene Colombo, Luciano Gaston Squadrone, Dario Sarmiento Y Lucas Ariel Rodriguez) got together with a group of young women to share the journey. In this context, the defendant (according to the complaint) put the victim into the bathroom, beat her and sexually abused her..
The days after the visibility of the case, Judicial sources had confirmed to 0221.com.ar that “for the prosecution there is no doubt that the perpetrator of the rape has been proven, but for the moment they are not requesting the arrest because they believe there are no procedural risks, however they stated that the defendant cannot leave the country or approach the victim by any means”.
The young woman, whose data is kept confidential, is assisted by the lawyer Marcelo Pena and one year after the sexual attack, he spoke on his networks. She maintained that she resigned as a member of the club and assured that she felt “disappointed” by the institution: “I decided to use this medium because the situation is really overwhelming me. As many of you know, about two months ago I filed a complaint against Diego García, a player from Estudiantes de La Plata, for sexual abuse. And I want to make my disagreement publicly known and indignation with the decisions taken by the club”he then expressed.
“Since I was born, I am from Estudiantes. I was a hockey player, I represented the jersey all my life, on and off the field. I always felt that it was my second family and my second home, but today unfortunately I don’t feel that way. The club stopped representing me in the very second that they did not know how to defend me or take care of me. Today I unsubscribed and am no longer a member precisely because of this. The club did not take the necessary measures to take care of me. He protected himself legally by talking about the rights of the accused, but they forgot my rights,” he added.
“I know what is being said, I know what is being said and although I know that I have the support of many of you, I also know that there are people who believe that I do this for money or for fame. Believe me, I would love for this to be the situation because it would save me the trauma that living through all this caused me, and while the reported player is going to be transferred to another club where he could leave the country to play a cup, I have to suffer from home and receive psychological treatment, with a thousand fears and insecurities,” he continued. And to close, he left a harsh message against the club: “That is why I ask for justice and consistency through this medium. I have already lived it, I already have the damage, but I am still strong and I continue with the complaint standing so that another does not have to live my situation. If Estudiantes is a school, teach First to respect women. Be the family you say you are”.
THE REACTION OF STUDENTS
On February 27, 2021, Pincha made the decision to suspend García and separate him from the squad. “Having learned of the existence of a complaint against the player Diego García for alleged sexual abuse, the Institutional Action Protocol for Prevention and Intervention in situations of gender violence has been activated, giving immediate intervention to the Undersecretary of Gender and Diversity of the Club. In accordance with this, it has been resolved, as a preventive measure, that the player is not available to the coaching staff until progress is made in the investigation of the fact and his procedural situation is clarified”, they indicated then.
⚽ In mutual agreement with the player, the contract that linked Diego García with our institution was terminated pic.twitter.com/1YnNoikXQa
– Students of La Plata (@EdelpOficial) July 12, 2022
In the middle of the scandal the Uruguayan player finally ended up leaving the club and joined the Board of Trustees. In July 2022, the club and the footballer terminated the contract by mutual agreement. He currently works for the Emelec club in Ecuador but must return to the country to be tried when required by the Criminal Justice of the judicial department of La Plata.
