Friday, February 10, 2023 | 4:00 p.m.
The investigation into the murder of Diego Darío Bernal, the 28-year-old resident of Garuhapé who was stabbed to death in May of last year when he was returning to his home, has registered new developments in recent weeks.
According to the data provided by spokespersons involved in the investigation, it was learned that the prosecutor’s office of the Investigating Court One of Puerto Rico, requested last December that the file be raised for oral debate under the heading of simple homicide.
It is worth mentioning that for this investigation the only suspect in the case is a 23-year-old young man with whom the victim would have argued moments before being found seriously injured in the Las Miguelas neighborhood of the aforementioned town.
However, according to sources in the case, the request for trial was opposed by the defendant’s defense attorney, who in early January filed an appeal against the prosecutor’s opinion, for which the file was forwarded to the Court of Appeals of the province who should resolve the matter.
In case of coinciding with the proposal of Héctor Simon, prosecutor of the court, all the actions carried out during the investigation stage will be sent directly to an oral court in Posadas so that they can be heard in an oral trial.
Otherwise, the file will fall back into the hands of Simon, who will have to formulate a new requirement.
deadly discussion
Based on what is recorded in the file investigating the homicide, it is known that Diego Darío Bernal was attacked around 6 in the morning on Sunday, May 8 of last year in the Las Miguelas neighborhood of Garuhapé.
The desperate screams of one of his neighbors caused the victim’s 38-year-old sister to wake up to the unexpected visit of the man who shouted that Darío had been found very badly injured minutes before in the middle of the street.
Bernal died when he was transferred by ambulance to the hospital in Puerto Rico.
Immediately, the woman followed the neighbor to the vicinity of Yerbal and San Lorenzo streets, where she found her brother lying on a gutter and with abundant loss of blood that caused a significant cut on his chest.
Minutes later, an ambulance from the local Primary Health Care Center (Caps) went to the aforementioned neighborhood and transferred the injured person to the Puerto Rico hospital where unfortunately he was admitted lifeless.
In the midst of the first investigations, members of the local police station interviewed several residents of the area who provided data for the location of the alleged attacker.
That is how they reached Beby, 23 years old and who, according to witnesses, would have been the last person who was with Bernal prior to the attack.
On the other hand, with the order of Judge Manuel Balanda Gómez, head of the First Investigating Court of Puerto Rico, the young man was arrested the same day of the homicide and after a search carried out at his home, the investigators seized a knife that was presumably used to the aggression as well as various articles of clothing with blood stains. Along with other items of value for the investigation.
Days later, the defendant was transferred to the court for an investigative statement, although in this instance the young man chose to remain silent and not give details of what happened. Although he was charged with simple homicide, the same qualification with which at the end of last year the elevation of the file to trial was required.
previous fight
Although throughout the investigation several testimonies of importance to the case were collected, the judicial authorities involved decided to carry out a reconstruction of the crime as a complementary measure to define certain issues that until then were not clear in relation to the mechanics of the event. .
For this, a recreation of the last minutes was arranged, both for the victim and the perpetrator, in which several residents of the neighborhood intervened.
One of the important contributions was made by a woman who said that both Beby and Bernal met that day in front of a house located on San Lorenzo and Sarmiento streets in the Las Miguelas neighborhood.
In this context, a discussion arose between the two where at a certain moment the attack that left Bernal badly injured took place.
Seeing that the blow was significant, the assailant ran away from the scene, while the victim managed to walk a few meters before collapsing to the ground.
