The Court of Instruction of La Altagracia began the trial against a teacher and his cousin, implicated in the death of 16-year old Esmeralda Richiez, a resident in La Otra Banda municipality.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses Richiez’s teacher, John Kelly Martínez of the death. Rubiel Morillo Martínez, the teacher’s cousin, is also accused of involvement in the circumstances that lead to the death of the teenager.
In the indictment, the prosecutors stated that in the evening hours of 12 February 2023, the teenager left her home where she resided with her parents in Vista Alegre, in the company of the teacher, as well as Morrillo Martínez and three other minors. When she returned around 12 midnight, she was pale and bleeding. She was left in her room. The next day she was found dead in the bathroom.
The prosecutors say that Martinez caused the lacerations, abrasions and contusions that caused the death of Richiez from vaginal tearing. The autopsy indicated the teenager suffered severe acute external and internal bleeding and hemorrhagic shock.
John Kelly Martínez is serving 18 months of preventive detention in the Anamuya Correction and Rehabilitation Center in Higüey.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Listin Diario
15 June 2023