National District prosecutors Minerva Batista and Carmen Espinal Geo have deposited a recourse that accuses 27-year old Venezuelan Skarle Valentina Mujica Zapata of involuntary murder of 33-year old Julio César de la Rosa Peralta on the western side of the Malecon due to fearless or careless driving. She is also accused of evading her responsibility as a driver in the case of an accident. The hearing is set for Thursday, 20 June 2024.
The prosecutors are requesting preventive custody arguing the woman is a foreigner and could flee the country to avoid prosecution.
The woman is under arrest at the Casa del Conductor.
Mujica Zapata does not have legal status in the Dominican Republic and her Venezuelan passport has been expired for two years, as reported. She has a Venezuelan driver’s license. She did not report the accident to the authorities at the time of it happening on Saturday, 15 June 2024 in the evening and instead on Monday, 17 June reported having crashed into an unknown object.
What is known is that the deceased Julio César de la Rosa Peralta would have been outside his vehicle, when he was rammed over at around 11:30pm by the suspect near the Passport Agency on the 30 de Mayo Highway (Malecon). As reported, he died immediately.
Mujica Zapata’s vehicle was damaged to the point, she was not able to drive away in the vehicle and the later had to be towed. She would report the incident on Monday, but did not mention she had run over a person. She was reportedly driving a Hyundai, Santa Fe Sport, year 2018, registered in her name.
Julio César (Junior) de la Rosa Peralta was a journalist active on social media. His father Julio Cesar de la Rosa Tiburcio is known as an activist for the Anti-Corruption Alliance (Adocco). De la Rosa had reported his son missing on Sunday to only learn later that his vehicle had appeared unscathed in a Police deposit. The father would later confirm the body of his son at the Forensic Sciences Institute.
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20 June 2024