National attention continued to focus on the trial of three then 18-year olds, Mario José Redondo Llenas, Juan Manuel Moliné Rodríguez, and Martin and Luis Angel Palmas, the son and husband of the former Argentinean ambassador in the country, Teresa Meccía de Palmas. 12-year old Rafael José Llenas Aybar, brutally murdered and stabbed in the back 34 times on 3 May 1996. The trial, one where police cover ups, satanic rites practices, drug dealings and other wrong doings are being brought to the forefront, is being televised daily to the nation. ·María Magdalena Giraldes, mother of the former girlfriend of Juan Manuel Rodríguez Moliné, identified as Kimberly Giraldes said that her daughter left for the United States, where she now studies, 25 days after the crime occurred. Lawyers of Llenas Aybar feel that she should return to testify. A notebook where Kimberly’s telephone number was found, led to the uncovering of the two boys that later confessed to the assassination. ·The lawyer of Llenas Aybar described Redondo Llenas as ambitious, aggressive, a moneylender, adulterator, drug dealer. Moliné Rodríguez was described as a person who enjoyed Stephen King horror novels and to listen to satanic rock music. ·The Listín Diario revealed that the family of Llenas Aybar will seek an indemnification of 55 million pesos to the Palmas-Meccía family. The Palmas-Meccía when they left in a hurry, left property purchased in the DR sufficient to cover this sum, it was reported. ·Mario José Redondo Llenas has accused the Luis Angel Palmas, the husband of the former Argentinean ambassador of planning the kidnapping and ordering the execution of the 12-year old boy. ·Ana Mitila Lora of the Listín Diario reports that Mario José Redondo Llenas used an ID card property of Martín Palmas where he replaced the diplomat’s photo for one of his own. The card was reportedly used for "non sancta" activities. ·A diplomatic passport that Martin Palmas declared as lost in the summer of 1995 when he was vacationing in Paris with Mario Redondo and other friends, later appeared in Santo Domingo used by Venezuelan drug dealer César Simón Abreu Súarez to escape from jail and flee the country. ·In one of the questionings, Mario Redondo Llenas declared that he had accompanied Luis Angel Palmas to pick up 250 kilos of cocaine in the southwestern city of Barahona. ·Hoy newspaper reported that Mario José Redondo Llenas’ defense lawyer Artagnan Pérez Méndez criticized the investigations carried out by the Police. He criticized that the officers that initially intervened in the case were dispersed once the body was found. He mentioned the officers followed orders of General Carlos Reyes Mora, and spoke of a cover up operation. He also mentioned that the police report that was prepared on the case was not signed by then Chief of Homicides, Rafael Oscar Bencosme Candelier. ·Artagnan Pérez revealed he suspects that Captain Rodríguez García accompanied the Palmas to Barahona to pick up a drug cargo. ·Press coverage also brought up how after traveling to Paris, Martin Palmas and Mario José Llenas Aybar behaved in such a rogue fashion that Dominican students are now banned from student exchanges in the program in which they participated. ·Also questioned was Jorge Luís Rodríguez, another classmate of Martín Palmas, Mario José Redondo Llenas, Juan Manuel Moliné at the Colegio Loyola. Jorge Luís Rodríguez said that Moliné had feminine mannerisms. Moliné spent the night prior to the crime in Rodríguez’s home. ·Lawyer Artagnan Pérez also further questioned Yordi Felipe Martínez Selman, another classmate of the Colegio Loyola, after the later insisted he was merely employed as a messenger by the Argentinean ambassadors. Dr. Pérez questioned Martínez’s downplaying of his relationship with the Palmas-Meccía family and mentioned that if he was just an employee, how come the ambassador herself visited the authorities of the Colegio Loyola to plead he not be expelled for his bad grades, and his attending several parties given by the Argentinean ambassadors.
