Police officer and two family members detained for intrafamily sexual abuse in Palmira, Mendoza
Three members of the same family were detained in Palmira, Mendoza, accused of repeated sexual abuse. A DNA test determined that a police auxiliary is the biological father of his own sister's son.
DNA test reveals intrafamily sexual abuse in Palmira: three detained, one is police officer
A 29-year-old police auxiliary, his father and another brother were detained in the town of Palmira in Mendoza province, department of San Martín, following a judicial investigation for alleged repeated intrafamily sexual abuse. According to canal13sanjuan.com, the case was triggered by the complaint of a 35-year-old woman who identified several members of her own family as responsible for abusing her since adolescence.
The prosecutor for Gender Violence and Crimes against Sexual Integrity, Federico Bergamín, is directing the investigation and ordered the measures that led to the detentions. The case generated a strong impact on public opinion in Mendoza due to the seriousness of the accusations and the extent of the alleged network of sexual violence that, according to the complainant, would have extended for years within the same family nucleus.
The father, first detainee and charged with aggravated carnal abuse
In an initial stage, the Justice system ordered the detention of the complainant's father. The man was charged with sexual abuse with aggravated carnal abuse due to kinship in an indeterminate number of incidents, and subsequently preventive detention was imposed whilst the case proceeds.
One of the central aspects of the case was establishing the biological identity of the victim's son, a 10-year-old boy. The woman stated she did not know who the boy's father was due to the repeated abuse she claimed to have suffered in the family environment. Investigators initially compared the child's DNA with that of the complainant's father, but the result was negative.
DNA points to police auxiliary brother
The forensic tests continued and determined that the biological father of the minor was one of the woman's brothers, who worked as a police auxiliary at the East Zone Delegation of the Mendoza Rural Police. With this evidence incorporated into the case file, prosecutor Bergamín ordered a search of the officer's residence, located in Palmira.
During the operation, the suspect was detained. Investigators seized a 9 millimetre pistol, magazines, ammunition of different calibres, a bulletproof vest and a mobile telephone, amongst other items considered of interest to the case. The officer was placed in the 28th Police Station in Palmira and remains at the disposal of the Justice system.
A third brother, also under investigation
The case is not limited to the first two accused. Sources connected to the case file indicated that a third brother of the complainant is being investigated for alleged sexual abuse committed against both the victim and his own daughters. In this way, three members of the family—the father and two brothers—appear implicated in the same judicial investigation.
Investigators continue gathering evidence and testimony to reconstruct the alleged facts and determine the degree of responsibility of each of the accused. The prosecution proceeds with judicial measures whilst the case continues to shock the town of Palmira and the province of Mendoza as a whole.
Information from El Sol Diario, Mendoza Post and Los Andes.
Source: Google News PR — San Juan