The mother of MARIANELA RAGO, the student murdered in 2010 in Balvanera, declared: “There are no perfect crimes”

The mother of Marianela Rago Zapata, the journalism student who was 19 years old when she was murdered in 2010 in her apartment in Balvanera, declared this Monday during the second hearing of the trial that the only accused is the victim’s ex-boyfriend, Francisco Amador, who has currently 36 years old.

Patricia Zapata described her daughter’s ex-partner as “a psychotic” and recalled that her Marianela had told her that she had repeated fights with Amador because he was bothered by “her having a new life” and on one occasion he even threatened her by telling her that “I wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully again.” The trial takes place in the Oral Criminal Court 29 and the accused is accused of simple homicide, who has already been acquitted five times for this crime.

During the day, Eduardo Rago and Matías Rago Zapata, father and brother of the murdered student, also testified, asking that the only person accused of the crime not be present during their testimonies.

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Amador, at the first hearing of the trial for the crime of Marianela Rago. (Photo: Télam).

Patricia Zapata also recalled in her testimony that during her daughter’s last year of high school, a time in which she met Amador, who was her tutor at a school in the Fuegian city of Río Grande. “It was her partner. I don’t remember that he officially presented it to me,” said the woman, who recalled that her daughter traveled with the accused to Buenos Aires in 2009, when the young woman began studying journalism.

Before the court made up of judges Hugo Navarro, Juan María Ramos Padilla and Rodolfo Goerner, the woman declared that one of the first warnings that her daughter gave her about her relationship with Amador was between June and August of that same year in which Marianela arrived. to Buenos Aires, when he called her crying and told her that he had argued with the accused.

“She called me crying, that she had gotten into a fight with Amador, that she had yelled at him and that he told her that ‘she would never be able to sleep peacefully again.’ “I called him, I told him everything and to never get close to Marianela again,” said Zapata.

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The woman assured that she and her husband spoke about the possibility of requesting a restraining order. However, the next day the victim called them and told them that “she was fine, that she had spoken with her partner and that they had ended the relationship and were not going to see each other again.”

For Marianela’s mother, Amador “did not tolerate Marianela being accompanied, not even with friends” and recalled a violent situation when the young man reproached her daughter in front of her for not responding to his messages. “The monitoring of this person (by Amador) was constant. “He always called her,” he indicated, after which he described him as “a psychotic” and remarked: “If he didn’t have her, he didn’t have anyone.”

Marianela Rago was 19 years old when she moved to Buenos Aires to study journalism. (Photo: Télam).

Then, excited, the woman remembered her daughter as “a happy girl, who liked to dance, go out, and when she was with him she was someone else, it wasn’t her.” The mother also pointed out that her daughter was found dead in the apartment she rented in Balvanera, and she pointed the gun directly at Amador.

“I don’t think it was a robbery, I think he followed her. There are no perfect crimes, I think it was him who followed her, who bothered him that she had a new life. Marianela did not deserve this,” the woman said, while her son Matías and her husband Eduardo burst into tears, so they were hugged and supported by those close to her.

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“Marianela’s death was terrible, it was a before and after. A part of one that leaves and never comes back. She was my little one and I didn’t have her anymore. “We miss her very much,” added the woman, who said that she hopes that in this debate “the truth emerges and that we can give it closure.”

“It took 13 years of talking about this, without being able to finish what happened with Marianela, and we want to remember her with her smile, with her eyes, her gaze. I hope this person serves her sentence. Even though this trial was not for femicide, I think it was femicide, he constantly harassed Marianela,” she stated.

Marianela Rago’s brother told in his statement how they found the body

The first to give a statement before TOC 29 was Matías Rago, who recalled the moment he entered his sister’s apartment, where he arrived after the young woman did not answer the calls to her cell phone for two days, and found her dead. He also said that at that moment he answered Amador through the intercom, who showed up at the scene and told him that his sister was dead and had been murdered.

At the end of his statement, with tears in his eyes, Matías Rago Zapata hugged his friends and family. Although Matías said that at that moment he did not see Amador, Natalia Cavallo, Matías’ partner and who also testified this Monday as a witness, he assured that she did meet him at the door of the building and that she saw him “nervous.”

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“I arrived at the apartment and Amador was there. I asked Amador why he was there, I asked him what he had done to him. It was an intuition I had, it seemed very strange to me that it is down there. “I didn’t know he was in a relationship at the time, it was very strange,” he noted in his testimonial statement. For her part, Marianela’s father recalled an encounter he had with his ex-son-in-law when he once raised his voice at his daughter, which later caused him to apologize.

“I think it was cruel to my daughter. From what she said, I found out that she ruined a dinner for him, that he followed her where she was going, that she surprised him where she was, that he treated her badly. A person like that is wrong,” she summarized. The third hearing of the trial will take place next Monday with the testimony of three witnesses via Zoom.