Soccer player Junior Benítez faces prison time for violence and threats: A detailed look at the trial

Junior Benítez and his forked tongue: if found guilty he could spend up to 14 years in prison

On the second day of the trial against him for violence and threats against his ex’s family, soccer player Oscar “Junior” Benítez (31) asked the Lomas de Zamora judge for the possibility of testifying. In a speech lasting just over half an hour, the former Boca and Lanús player qualified the accusations, recounted the story of his relationship with Anabelia Ayala, who committed suicide at the beginning of this year; and he targeted his complainant, Juan Carlos Ayala, the girl’s father, whom he accused of exercising violence on his daughter.

According to the accused, the woman’s traumatic past led to personality problems, disorders and jealousy, which affected the relationship between them. Anabelia took her own life last December 31 in her room, while her parents and her brother were spending the New Year’s party in her living room.

Benítez, who has been in a relationship for about 15 years with a woman with whom he had four children, said that they met Anabelia in 2018 through social networks. He said that initially he ignored her because he thought she was just another fan of the team where he played at the time (Boca), but at her insistence, they started chatting and eventually seeing each other regularly until developing a close bond.

Junior Benítez has been detained in preventive detention since January

Benítez explained that when he was transferred to Mexico, and although he had family with him, he invited Anabelia to travel as well and that she initially accepted that their relationship was temporary: first she paid for a hotel for him and then she rented him an apartment. However, she reported that the relationship began to strain due to jealousy and excessive demands for her to spend time with him.

“I explained to him that I had a partner, I had children, that I was living with them,” said the former Atlético Tucumán forward.

“I remember that when I started with her she told me things about situations at home. From the abuse she received from her father. It was obvious that she had been mistreated since she was a child. Her father put her head in the toilet and tightened her chain. He also told me about the beatings he received, the discrimination he received. She was very self-conscious about her physical appearance. She told me that she suffered attacks and that she always suffered discrimination from her family, her father, and also from her previous partner, who always discriminated against her,” Benítez said in a hearing where psychiatric and psychological expertise was also incorporated as evidence that showed this. “narcissistic”, “hysterical” and prone to aggressiveness and manipulation.

Anabelia Ayala’s family

He also reported that Anabelia self-medicated. “I never understood the subject. I talked to her about it and she told me that her parents gave her pills,” he added and was suggestive of possible cases of abuse by her father towards her daughter, although he did not specify details.

“He wanted to let me know that there were other things behind the beatings, which is why he self-medicated. She lived in a pill. I have great doubt about that, because I know that there were more than blows, that she received more than blows from Mr. Ayala. I always spoke to him. I always tried to help her in that sense. I didn’t try to get involved because they are the parents,” she said with some contradiction.

Among the crimes attributed to Benítez include, in addition to verbal attacks and physical threats to Anabelia’s parents, the deletion of all information from the only family computer. “They mention that I deleted a disk. I never touched a computer. I don’t know how to handle it. “I do know that she deleted things, that she manipulated the father’s computer,” he responded to the question from his lawyer.

Photos of the blows and marks of violence on Anabelia Ayala’s body that she shared with her cousin

He also rejected Anabelia’s father’s accusation that the soccer player slashed the covers of his car and threatened him with a gun. “Never. I did not go to the home with a weapon, much less threaten. I was having a discussion, actually some complaints from Ana about the issue of messages from women,” she said and reported that she received a blow from Ayala’s back. “It was just that,” she added. And he said that between Cecilia Barrios (Anabelia’s mother) and her ex, they took her father.

From that sequence, according to Benítez, the Police arrived. The soccer player said that he was beaten by Buenos Aires agents without him having acted aggressively or with a weapon. “They started hitting me to make me leave the house without knowing why. Eight police officers were easy, including women. While they were beating me, Ana jumped on me to get the police out. I was using a lot of force because they were bending my toes to break it. They put me in the patrol car and took me into custody,” he said.

The footballer said that he has no resentment with his ex’s family. He stressed that he “never” made a complaint against the family, not even when he allegedly hit the police. In that sense, he assured that he only wants “the truth to come to light” and that the Ayala family “ruined” his career.

Rodrigo Tripolone, lawyer for the Ayala family

Benítez maintained that he was a victim of the control and domination of Anabella and her family, and assured that he never carried out criminal or violent actions.

The footballer is preventively detained for having violated the perimeter restriction. However, he considered that he never transgressed her. And that he only approached Anabelia’s house “at a certain distance at her own request.”

For Rodrigo Tripolone, lawyer for the Ayala family, “Benitez asked to give a statement, immediately positioning himself in the role of victim, fabricating a fantastic story, where Anabelia was the one who controlled him to the point of managing his bank accounts and social networks.”

The complainant stressed that the accused “tried to cast a blanket of suspicion on the family, without demonstrating the slightest degree of regret for what happened to his girlfriend, with whom he lived not only in Mexico, but also in Argentina.”

The athlete is accused of the crimes of violence, threats and illegal use of a firearm (due to having an expired permit), which could mean an expected sentence of up to 14 years in prison. The trial will continue on April 4 with closing arguments, the defendant’s final word and the verdict of Judge Antonio Miguel Balicki, of the Oral Correctional Court No. 8 of Lomas de Zamora.

2024-03-25 22:41:25
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