A National District judge has ordered Jean Andrés Pumarol Fernández, accused in the killing of Ivonne Handal and the wounding of several others, to serve preventive detention at the Centro de Corrección y Rehabilitación Anamuya, the La Altagracia jail located 172 km from the capital city. The decision, handed down by Judge Rigoberto Sena of the National District Permanent Attention Court, has sparked debate regarding the accused’s mental health and the suitability of the correctional facility. The order is for three months custody at the jail as the case is heard in court.
According to Richard Martínez, Pumarol’s lawyer, the prosecution requested his client be sent to Anamuya, asserting the facility possesses a psychiatric ward. Martínez highlighted that this request implicitly acknowledges Pumarol’s mental health condition, stating: “In one way or another, it recognizes that there is a medical diagnosis regarding the defendant’s mental health.”
Martínez argues that his client, who reportedly suffers from paranoid schizophrenia since 2017, should receive treatment at a private mental health center rather than in jail, as he believes Anamuya is “not the ideal place.” Medical reports indicate Pumarol, 30, has been diagnosed with the condition. The family sought the accused be sent to a private mental facility in the capital city.
The Public Ministry’s file states that Pumarol was carrying two bladed weapons, going floor by floor, knocking on doors, and assaulting individuals who opened them in the apartment building he lived in the Naco neighborhood. The attack resulted in the death of 70-year-old Ivonne Handal Abugabir and injuries to Teresa Fabián Heredia (the deceased’s caregiver), 48-year-old Griselda Ozuna, 36-year-old Victoria Heredia, 68-year-old neighbor Francisco Texano, and Pumarol’s 62-year-old father, Guillermo Pumarol Castellanos.
On Monday, 28 July 2025, the family of the deceased, Ivonne Handal Abugabir, filed a formal complaint with the National District Attorney’s Office against Jean Andrés Pumarol. The complaint was presented by Carolyn Gissele Handal, Evelyn Ivonne Taveras Handal Díaz, Halleska María Handal, Nancy Licet Handal Abugabir, and Antonio Jesús Handal Abugabir, represented by their legal counsel Miguel Valerio, Yipsy Roa Díaz, and Daniel Santillán.
A recent report in Diario Libre on jails with mental health facilities did not include the facility at Anamuya jail. This could mean the mental health facility at the jail is brand new. As reported in Diario Libre, the family issued a press release expressing their agreement with the custody order in the understanding the facility is adequate. The jail is 172 km from Santo Domingo, about a 2 hours and a half drive.
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Diario Libre
29 July 2025