The young Johnatan Francisco García Tapias, investigated for the murder of the girl María Camila Plazas Luna, in Pitalito, tried to commit suicide in La Picota prison. The hearing to change the charge from homicide to femicide was suspended. The Prosecutor’s Office filed the indictment and will call him to trial for aggravated homicide, attempted homicide and animal abuse.
Raphael Rodriguez C.
rafael@lanacion.com.co
An attempt to take his own life was made by the young Johnatan Francisco García Tapias, investigated for the murder of the girl María Camila Plazas Luna, the injuries to her grandmother Luz Marina Valderrama de Luna and the death of the house dog, last January in the municipality of Pitalito.
The incident occurred in the courtyard of the La Picota penitentiary, in the city of Bogotá, where he was transferred from the Pitalito prison. “The Inpec (Penitentiary and Prison Institute) reported that on Thursday there was an attempt to self-eliminate and that he was hospitalized…”, said a source close to the case.
The suicide attempt was revealed on Friday afternoon at the installation of the hearing for the variation of the accusation that the Pitalito Sectional Prosecutor 24 attached to the Life Unit was going to carry out, before the First Municipal Criminal Judge of Pitalito with Functions of Guarantees.
García Tapias, accused of the crimes of aggravated homicide, for being the minor victim; attempted homicide and animal abuse. In yesterday’s hearing, the prosecutor would vary the crimes for aggravated femicide and attempted femicide for being a defenseless grandmother in conditions of inferiority before a strong young man with a knife.
However, the health situation of the young man, reported by Inpec, caused the guarantee judge to suspend the hearing, in which the prosecutor, García Tapias’ defense attorney, and the victims’ representatives were already virtually connected.
The new legal classification against García Tapias comes after the Attorney General’s Office at a technical table in Bogotá studied the figure of hatred towards women as a motivation to kill the girl and injure the grandmother. “The hatred of women is proven with two sexual assaults in Bogotá, which proves his inclination to hurt them by not respecting them.”
García Tapias’ life in the judicial courts began with the complaint of a woman who was sexually harassed by the subject, in a Transmilenio article in the city of Bogotá, on November 20, 2019.
On August 9, 2021, he reached a pre-agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, and in order to achieve a reduction in the sentence, the parties agree that the criminal offense be made based on de facto insult, but the legal classification of violent sexual act is maintained, and On September 28 of the same year, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison and a fine of 13.33 current legal monthly minimum wages (13,330,000).
Will be called to trial
The failed imputation variation hearing led the prosecutor in the case to file the indictment at the Pitalito Judicial Services Center on Friday, which in the coming days will appoint the hearing judge to advance the oral trial.
According to judicial sources close to the case, the delegate of the Prosecutor’s Office filed the accusation since today the terms of the law expired. “On Monday (today) the terms expired and the lawyer could request release due to expiration of terms.”
Now the prosecutor’s office, defense attorney for García Tapias and representatives of victims, will be waiting for the appointed judge to set the date for the prosecution hearing against the defendant for the crimes of aggravated homicide, attempted homicide and animal abuse. .
García Tapias faces a sentence of 500 to 6600 months in prison.
The crime
The knife attack, which ended with the death of the girl, the serious injuries to her grandmother, and the death of her pet, occurred around eleven in the morning, last Friday, January 27, at her home located in the La Virginia, in the municipality of Pitalito.
The investigations and videos from security cameras allowed the police investigators to establish that García Tapias entered the home of the elderly woman, Luz Marina Valderrama de Luna, with a knife, when she saw the minor with her two cousins in the living room.
“Jonathan Francisco García Tapias observes three girls in the living room of the residence cared for by their grandmother who was in the kitchen, he enters knife in hand taking advantage of the fact that the door was open,” says the Prosecutor’s Office.
According to investigations, the subject, upon entering the house, warned María Camila, 10 years old, and her two cousins, 10 and 7 years old, that it was a robbery. He “told them that she is going to kill them.”
The barking of the dog ‘Scopito, the girls’ pet, barks desperately against the young man, alerting the 67-year-old grandmother Luz Marina Valderrama, who comes to the aid of the minors. “The woman asks the stranger not to hurt them…”.
However, the pleas of the girls and the older adult did not echo García Tapias, who stabbed the pet to death, grabbed María Camila by the hair, stabbed her four times in the back.
The grandmother tried to prevent the aggression and is attacked by the young man, causing a wound at chest level.
María Camila, badly injured, runs out of the house with her cousins, looking for help, and after a few steps she falls to the ground. “All of which was recorded in the municipality’s cameras,” said the judicial source, noting that the man was fleeing being chased by the neighbors.
The minor and her grandmother are helped and taken to the local hospital, where the minor dies due to the seriousness of the injuries that compromised her vital organs. While her grandmother, Luz Marina, underwent surgery on her chest. “The patient had blood accumulated between the chest wall and her lung, she was drained to prevent death, and she was sent to the Neiva University Hospital.”
Meanwhile, García Tapias flees from the house to a nearby area, being found a few blocks later, under the bridge over the Guarapas River, surrounded by the community, while the Police arrive, capture him and find the knife with which he , apparently, attacked the minor, her grandmother and the dog.
“The knife was smeared with blood, and the pants also had blood stains,” said the legal source.
The authorities established that García Tapias had been released two days before from the Pitalito prison for a sentence served for the crime of violent sexual act, in events that occurred and were tried in Bogotá. “The defendant was transferred by the Inpec for prison quotas, he did not know the victims,” said the source.
