One of the most important witnesses in the La Plata quadruple murder case, where three women and a young girl were killed, was forced to move after receiving death threats and it was being analysed whether they would be put into a witness protection program, the public prosecutor leading the case today announced.
The death threats were being sent to Oscar Paniagua, neighbour of Osvaldo Martínez – the only person arrested for the crime and who now, under the order of public prosecutor Alvaro Garganta on Thursday, is under preventative imprisonment accused of being coauthor of the crimes.
Garganta stated that Paniagua, “was the one who saw Martínez arrive to his house in melchor Romero at 1.40 am (the night of the murders), which puts him under threat now.”
The public prosecutor furthered that, “the witness has moved house, and we are evaluating the prospect of entering him into a witness protection program,” during a radio interview.
Martínez stated that that night he had fallen asleep at home and only woke up at 1.30 am to put away his car, but Paniagua assures he saw him arrive speedily with his Fiat Uno, open the garage door violently and then slam it shut.
The witness stated that the accused returned to his house at 1.40 am, after the time that the women are estimated to have been murdered, and further stated that his neighbour had never acted in such a way as he did that evening.
In spite of this, Garganta also disclosed that “four witnesses from the neighbourhood put up to give evidence on the Martínez never showed up to declare.”
On November 27, the bodies of Bárbara Santos (29), her mother Susana de Bartole, her daughter Micaela Galle (11) and a friend, Marisol Pereyra (35) were found in a flat along 28 Street, between 41 and 42.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald