The parents of Agustín Ávila (16) are heartbroken.
His son was murdered by a mob last Sunday in the city of Jesús María. The teenager had suffered the theft of a cap at the hands of a group of young people a few meters from the local amphitheater. When he went to complain, several of them jumped on him and beat him. Agustín ended up dead from a blow to the neck.
A 15-year-old boy was arrested and sent to the Esperanza Complex. He is unimpeachable.
Justice works to identify the rest of the mob. It is believed that there are adults and more minors involved.
The parents are now plaintiffs in the case and demand justice.
Who was Augustine
“Ute”, as he was known to family and friends, was 16 years old.
They called him that way because as a child he mightn’t pronounce the word “sweet” correctly, and he got the nickname. He lived in Guiñazú, in the extreme north of the city of Córdoba, and was in his 5th year at IPET 333, Julio Salusso, from Villa Los Llanos, a technical school oriented towards master builders located a few kilometers north of his home. .
Agustín was the eldest of four brothers, and he was dating another teenager from a nearby neighborhood whom he knew from school. and he divided his days between going to school, working in a car wash and playing soccer. “He was an excellent person, much loved in the neighborhood,” says Luciano González (34), his mother’s partner who raised him since he was two years old.
His projects were linked to working and saving to buy his things. “He wanted to get to buy a car,” say his parents. But his last dream was always to play soccer, since many told him that he was very good. He played in a soccer school, and later in Club Atlético Unión Florida, in the Jorge Newberry neighborhood. “It was difficult for us to pay the tuition, the clothes, the booties and coordinate the school schedules, that’s why he had to leave, but that was his dream.”
“He had no problems with anyone, since I was a child I taught him that he had to avoid problems. Even if they told him he was a shit, ”explains Luciano, who added that they always instilled in him that with respect he goes a long way. He never disrespected anyone.”
what happened that night
On Friday night, Agustín’s grandmother had had a domestic accident. The woman lives in Jesús María, a few blocks from the place where the Dressage and Folklore Festival is held, and Vanessa decided to go that Saturday followingnoon to visit her. Agustín, who had to work, told his mother to go ahead, and that he would go with Emiliano, a friend, following leaving work. “We are there,” the young man would have told him.
The difficulties in obtaining transport tickets to Jesús María, and the lack of telephone signal in the town due to the large number of visitors, complicated communication between the two, who only met once more following 2:30 in the morning.
They were on the outside of the José Hernández Amphitheater, where the festival is held, next to the door from which the artists came out, listening to Soledad Pastorutti’s show, and hoping to see her leave.
Around four in the morning they see that a fight begins between some boys in the place. Vanessa maintains that there were two police officers at the scene who did not intervene in what was happening. “They hit two girls and then they left, hitting each other.” Given this scenario, Agustín’s family decided to leave the place. Vanesa and her husband, Agustín and her friend Emiliano, and regarding six other relatives were there.
They were walking towards the place where the car was when Vanessa sees that one of the boys who were in the vicinity of a rock hits Agustín in the face, takes off a black visor with a brand logo that he was wearing, and leaves in a hurry. The situation surprised Agustín, who ran with his friend following whom he had taken the visor. Vanessa and one of her sisters-in-law also came out behind.
“We went following a visor that is not worth a thousand pesos. I think that no one goes looking for a visor thinking that they can take the life of your child from you, ”says Vanessa through tears.
When they got close to the gate where the artists come out, Vanessa saw that her son was down, trying to get up and covering his face with his arms while a group that his mother estimates to be at least six people, men and women, beat him. Emiliano tried to help him, but he mightn’t. At one point, Agustín received a blow to the head with a bottle and fell to the ground, where he continued to receive blows and kicks from the group of attackers.
Vanessa was also beaten by two of the women, and she shows the marks on her arms and hand. Her mother does not know precisely when she received a cut on the neck, which would have been fatal, but she remembers that when her son was already unconscious on the ground, she continued to receive blows, kicks and, finally, another bottle hit on the head. head.
“I think that at that moment I lost track of time, my heart felt that my son was no longer alive and I had no more strength to get up,” he says.
The parents’ claim
“There was a policeman at the scene, but he was just another bystander. He did not prevent or intervene in the situation. The ambulance that was inside the festival amphitheater, a few meters from where Agustín was lying, did not want to come out to help him either. There were many who did not do what they should and must be held accountable, ”Vanessa claimed through tears.
Despite the fact that some 20 people were detained by the police following the homicide, only one was detained. However, since he is a minor under 15 years of age, he cannot be charged with the homicide.
In the last few hours, Agustín’s parents announced that they will ask to be admitted to the case as plaintiffs, for which they have already announced that they will be represented by Carlos Nayi. The case is being investigated by Carolina Elías, Dean Funes’ investigating prosecutor, who is in charge of the Jesús María Prosecutor’s Office due to the judicial fair.
