The investigating judge of the first instance court number 1 of Santiago has decreed provisional detention without bail for two of the detainees in the violent death case of the butcher Antonio Costa at the Santiago market. Both, of Venezuelan nationality, are being investigated for homicide, allegedly involved in the assault that led to the vendor’s death in the early hours of last Tuesday when he was about to open his establishment. The two men, who had been detained since the day of the incident, appeared before the court early Thursday morning. A third detainee, an Italian national who witnessed the events but was not directly involved in the fight, according to his testimony and that of the market security guard, has also been called to testify.
The judge ordered the imprisonment of the two main accused, while the third party, who was released at the police station, has been released without precautionary measures. Both the prosecution and the private prosecution, represented by Costa’s family, had requested the measure of provisional detention for the two men who, according to the eyewitness, participated in the fight. The family’s lawyer, Francisco Méndez, sees “contradictions” in the defendants’ statements, where they accuse each other, and “flight risk”, as reported by Europa Press. The third person initially did not directly participate in the assault, although he was with the other two detainees at the time of the crime. “Apparently, he stayed a little behind,” the lawyer reports. The parties requested that his situation of freedom be maintained, as confirmed by the judge, Ana López Suevos.
The crime occurred on Tuesday morning when the butcher, well-known in Santiago, was heading to work at his stall in the square. The main hypothesis is that the man confronted a group of three young people returning from a party who were urinating near the market. A fight broke out between two of them and the victim, who was struck several times and died at the scene. Security forces arrested both the two main suspects and the third man who witnessed the events on Tuesday, although he was later released. A fourth person who had been with them that night was also identified but was not present at the market during the crime. The preliminary autopsy report indicates that Costa died from a blow to the head and had other injuries. However, the final report is still pending to clarify what happened.
Family members of the victim, visibly affected, have arrived at the courts in Santiago. His daughter, Gloria Costa, spoke to the TVG cameras asking for “justice” for her father and for his crime not to go “unpunished”. “I have to see their faces and tell them they destroyed an entire family,” said the victim’s daughter, in tears. “It’s a great sorrow that such a beloved, respected, and hardworking person, that two thugs come and take his life away like that. It’s unfair.” Their lawyer also thanked the support shown to the family and asked for the investigators to be allowed to work so that there may be justice.
