Expectations for the verdict in the trial of Sebastián Villa, accused of gender violence

The verdict of the trial of the Boca Juniors soccer player Sebastián Villa as accused of exercising gender violence against his ex-partner Daniela Cortés in April 2020 in a house in a private neighborhood in the Buenos Aires town of Canning, will be announced today in the courts of Lomas de Zamora, judicial sources reported today.

The last hearing of the debate will begin at 1:00 p.m. with the reading of the verdict by Judge Claudia Dávalos, of Correctional Court 2 of the aforementioned judicial department, located on Avenida Presidente Perón at 2400 of that district in the south of the Buenos Aires suburbs.

Judicial sources indicated that the hearing will be broadcast live on the official YouTube channel of the Buenos Aires Supreme Court of Justice.

The Boca Juniors striker is charged with the crime of “minor injuries aggravated by the relationship and mediating gender violence and coercive threats” to the detriment of Cortés.

In his plea, the trial prosecutor, Sergio Anauati, requested that the soccer player be sentenced to two years and three months in prison for conditional compliance.

According to the Criminal Code, the crime of qualified minor injuries foresees between 6 months and 2 years in prison and that of coercive threats from 2 to 4 years, for which reason the prosecutor favored an intermediate sentence.

For Anauati, according to what was declared in the framework of the trial by the witnesses and by the victim herself, the event occurred “on April 27, 2020 inside a house in the country Saint Thomas de Canning, when Villa told Daniela Cortés who was going to ruin her life and punched her in the forehead with a ring she was wearing, and then took her by the arm and later threw her to the ground, provoking her, kicking her to cause various minor injuries.”

Meanwhile, defense attorney Martín Apolo demanded Villa’s acquittal by assuring that the complaint against him is “false.”

“That has not been proven, nor is it proven that it existed,” said the lawyer in relation to the complaints of threats and gender violence made by Cortés against his ex-partner.

Sebastián Villa was available to Judge Dávalos in person and virtually, except in a hearing during which he was in full flight with the Boca Juniors squad after a match played in Chile for the Copa Libertadores de América.

In his last words, the striker “xeneize” assured that he is “innocent” and that “he would never hurt Daniela.”

“What I have to say is that I would never hurt Daniela or her family. I’m innocent. I am an excellent person, a good son, a good brother. I am innocent, I believe in God and I believe that everything will turn out well, in the best way, ”she maintained in a low, almost inaudible tone of voice.

What is Sebastián Villa accused of?

The debate discusses the events that occurred on April 27, 2020 in the house shared by Villa and his ex in the private neighborhood of Saint Thomas, in Canning, which were investigated by the decentralized Functional Instruction Unit (UFI) 3 of Esteban Echeverría, specialized in Gender Violence.

Cortés denounced having been beaten by Villa through a video posted on social networks, in which she is seen with blood in her mouth, while recounting violent events experienced with the soccer player, whom she describes as “an abuser, both both physically and psychologically.”

After that episode, the footballer moved to the country “Venado II”, also from Canning, in which the second episode supposedly took place for which he was denounced in June 2021 for the crime of “sexual abuse”.

In this case, on May 12, the prosecutor Vanesa González, from the decentralized Functional Instruction Unit (UFI) 3 of Esteban Echeverría, requested its elevation to trial, for which the intervening Guarantee Court has a period of 15 days to run view the defense and define whether it gives rise to the petition.