One of the minors was the one who pulled the trigger. What Sebastián's family says in the middle of the debate over lowering the age of criminal responsibility
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This Wednesday the trial for the murder of Sebastián Villarreal began in the courts of Córdoba, who was killed by a gang of criminals (including minors) as he was leaving his house in the Yofre Norte neighborhood in February 2024.
The investigation of the case established that three adults and two teenagers were part of the group of thieves that operated in the northeastern area of the capital city.
Héctor Alejandro Herrera, Luciano Gonzalo Busto, and Axel Fabricio Escada will be seated in the dock.
Meanwhile, the 17-year-old who shot Sebastián is in the juvenile institution Complejo Esperanza after a conviction by the Juvenile Criminal Justice system.
Sebastián Villarreal, asesinado por menores.
Juvenile delinquents in Córdoba
The fifth member of the gang is a teenager who was 14 years old at the time of the crime.
He was declared not criminally responsible, he remained for six months in Complejo Esperanza and he was released.
Since then, he has been linked to a series of crimes and he even went so far as to post on his social networks photos posing with a Córdoba Police bulletproof vest and weapons.
"We had to go out and fight for an oral and public trial because last year they intended to hold a shortened trial," said Jimena Villarreal, Sebastián's sister, about the legal battle that they still face.
The legal representatives of the victim's family demand that the three accused men face the charge of homicide criminis causa, whose sentence reaches life imprisonment.
However, Herrera, Busto, and Escada came to trial under the charge of homicide on the occasion of robbery, for which reason the maximum sentence would reach 25 years in prison.
"Every time I hear talk about lowering the age of criminal responsibility, I find it less and less meaningful. What good does it do for me? That acts afterward, the answer is no. The issue is the things that have to be addressed beforehand so that it doesn't reach this point," said the daughter of the man who was shot in Yofre Norte to Cba24N.
In the same vein, Sebastián's sister referred to the failures of the system regarding the 14-year-old teenager involved.
"At nine years old this kid was expelled from school, he was in an environment where people knew there was crime in the family and, nevertheless, he remained there. Those who had to intervene did not do so or it was not enough; this has to be reviewed," she stated.
The series of hearings that will take place between February and March is also marked in Sebastián's family by his birthday, his father's birthday, and his niece's birthday.
