The Special Transit Court of the National District remanded 19-year old urban music singer, Elvis Manuel Santos Alcantara (Onguito Wa) and his accomplice Eric Rafael Peralta to two months in Najayo jail as their case is prepared. Wa is accused of killing 25-year old Haitian Elma Avener in a vehicle clash on 29 October 2022. Avener was driving a motorcycle. Peralta is accused of being an accomplice after he presented himself as the person who was driving the Mercedes Benz that crashed the motorcycle.
The Public Prosecutor Office accuses the artist of running over Avener, who was driving a motorcycle and died after the collision on Duarte Avenue in the National District. Peralta is charged with the crime of perjury, which also aggravates the situation of the urban singer.
Onguito was arrested at the Las Americas International Airport when he attempted to travel to Colombia. Hours later, Peralta was arrested.
Manuel Mateo Calderon and Rondon Monegro, legal defense for the relatives of the deceased Avener, considered the coercive measure “as the most suitable.”
Gerardo Espinosa Sosa, Onguito’s lawyer, called the order a violation of the law. He said his client was detained before the arrest warrant had been issued. He also attributed the preventive measures to sensationalism.
After the crash that killed the Haitian, the authorities say that Wa fled the scene and then lied when he presented Peralta as the driver of the vehicle. In an interview with Alofoke radio-YouTube show, Wa’s girlfriend, 26-year old influencer Briante, who was with him on that fatal evening, declared that it was Wa who was driving. Peralta later would appear on the same Alofoke radio-YouTube platform to deny he was the driver. He admitted he accepted US$900 to make the statement.
Onguito Wa’s girlfriend is a niece of legendary grassroots merengue singer Fefita La Grande. She stated on the Alofoke show that Onguito and herself were the only persons in the rented Mercedes Benz vehicle.
Briante said she paid RD$1 million to retrieve her passport so she could travel to the United States. The vehicle had been rented in her name and with her credit card. Onguito Wa does not have a driver’s license. The urban music exponent is a repeat offender in traffic accidents. Briante lives in the United States.
Onguito Wa was a delivery boy before reaching stardom as a dembow composer-singer.
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8 December 2022