Man convicted in death of Jaime E. Moreno reveals his account of Halloween night
Juan Carlos Suárez, sentenced for the murder of student Jaime Esteban Moreno, spoke on YouTube about what happened that night. His account contradicts the Prosecutor's Office's reconstruction.
Convicted man says others incited him to strike Jaime E. Moreno again
Juan Carlos Suárez, convicted for the murder of 20-year-old student Jaime Esteban Moreno, offered his own version of the events that occurred on Halloween night in an interview published on the YouTube channel Conducta Delictiva. According to pulzo.com, Suárez's account presents significant differences from the reconstruction presented by the Prosecutor's Office during trial.
Suárez explained that his attendance at the party was not planned in those terms: several friends cancelled due to illness and he ended up accepting an invitation from Kleydimar Paola Fernández, whom he described as an acquaintance from the neighbourhood. "The only person I really knew there was Paola," he stated. It was while waiting to enter the venue that he met Ricardo González and a woman named Ámbar.
Inside the nightclub, according to Suárez, he did not directly witness any incident, but claimed to have seen a young woman crying and distressed afterwards. "I saw the girl, the alleged victim, like at the table with the mask. She seemed to be crying, very frustrated," he recounted. He had been told about a supposed incident of a sexual nature that had occurred inside the establishment. The defence never legally established that incident, nor was it established that it had occurred as it was narrated to the convicted man.
The encounter with Moreno, who was wearing a red jacket, took place when the party was ending. Suárez went out to an Oxxo store to buy food and there he came across the student. According to his explanation, his intention was to move him away from the place so he would not remain near the young woman who, according to what he had been told, was affected. "I didn't want him to be in front of that girl who was crying," he said. He acknowledged that he threatened Moreno and that he then physically assaulted him.
The most debated part of his statement has to do with returning to the attack. Suárez maintained that, after the first blow, people present told him it had been too soft. "They made me think I should give him another blow," he stated. According to him, those comments directly influenced his decision to go back at Moreno. At the same time, he acknowledged that he should have acted differently: "I know that the way to defend that girl's honour and to help her and to show solidarity with her at this moment, I know that should have been to call the Police." He also indicated that Moreno tried to protect himself by raising his arms, although without managing to hit him.
Suárez added that, after losing his glasses during the scuffle and picking them up from the ground, he turned and saw Moreno still lying down. He said he had not assessed the seriousness of the situation and believed he had only dealt him a punch. "I didn't limit the number of blows because I knew they were not capable of causing any damage. That's what I thought," he stated. He also noted that he tried to throw a kick but changed his mind before connecting it. According to his version, he then went to the Oxxo where the group was waiting, with the intention that everyone would take a taxi home.
The Prosecutor's Office version describes a different sequence. According to the accusing body, Moreno did not respond to the first assault and tried to move away to find transport, but was pursued and caught at a corner. The Prosecutor's Office maintained that Ricardo González knocked him down with a kick to the back and that Suárez continued hitting him when the student was already on the ground. Moreno was taken to a medical facility with multiple injuries to the face, skull and chest, and died hours later as a result of the injuries.
Suárez's statement should consequently be read as his own account of the events of that night, with substantial differences from the evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office in the proceedings that resulted in his conviction.
Source: Google News CO — Bogotá