Jet Set trial in Santo Domingo: prosecutors demand up to 30 years for 236 deaths
The Espaillat brothers face trial over the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub in April 2025. Survivors demand sentences proportional to the magnitude of the tragedy.
Espaillat brothers before the courts over collapse that killed 236 people
Brothers Antonio and Maribel Espaillat appeared at a new hearing of the substantive trial for the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub, which occurred on 8 April 2025 in Santo Domingo, causing 236 deaths and more than 180 injured. According to infobae.com, survivors and family members demand prison sentences of between 20 and 30 years, far exceeding the maximum two years contemplated by the current charges of involuntary manslaughter.
José María Llorente, who lost his wife that early morning, told the EFE news agency that he had to pull her out from the rubble after they had attended the show together. The couple had accumulated nearly 36 years of shared life and more than 26 years of marriage. Llorente noted that his wife's death frustrated their shared plans—including moving to Spain—and caused a distance from friendships that did not understand the impact of the loss.
"There is an entire very strong drama that occurs throughout all of this, added to the mental trauma that remains and which we will see what happens with time," said the survivor, who also described a climate of profound sadness among those who managed to get out alive.
The formal accusation and the survivors' demand
The substantive trial began on 28 August, following a preliminary phase. The formal accusation against the Espaillat brothers is for involuntary manslaughter and involuntary assault and battery, charges that allow a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Llorente is part of the Jet Set Justice Movement, an organisation that campaigns for the facts to be reclassified as voluntary manslaughter, which could result in sentences of between 20 and 30 years in prison.
"The victims and survivors are waiting for there to be an appropriate level of proportionality to what happened," he stated. In his view, a "truly forceful" sentence would serve for the affected parties to feel that justice had been done and would reduce the risk of a similar tragedy occurring again.
Llorente also questioned the attitude of the accused during the process. "The defendants behave or want to behave as if nothing had happened," he said, and claimed that they are trying to distance themselves from any responsibility. He also reported that the owners allegedly attempted to "buy the goodwill" of the victims, as if "they were going to buy meat," and warned about the possibility that justice might act weakly towards people with economic resources and business and political ties.
Experts confirm structural roof overload
Three experts from the Public Prosecutor's Office agreed during the previous week's hearing that the nightclub's roof collapsed because it was supporting a weight greater than its structure could withstand. The load accumulated progressively with the addition of layers of fine material, water tanks, sheds, air-conditioning equipment, sound systems and lights.
The collapse occurred in the early morning, while hundreds of people were attending a performance by Dominican merenguero Rubby Pérez, who died in the incident together with one of the musicians from his orchestra. Among the victims were also former Major League pitcher Otavio Dotel, designer Martín Polanco and a son of Eduardo Estrella, former president of the Senate and former Dominican minister of public works.
Source: Google News DO — Crime