All the testimonies have pointed out Diego MM – and the images show it – as the person who initiated the brutal attack on Samuel Luiz on July 3, 2021 in A Coruña. And he has admitted it. In his statement at the trial for the murder of the young nurse, he tearfully apologized to the victim’s family and said that he was responsible for starting the attack: “This started because of me.” He stated that he had consumed a lot of alcohol – almost an entire bottle of whiskey– and he has choppy memories, but several scenes remain with him: “The image I have is hitting Samuel.” He also said he could not forget the victim’s body lying on the ground.
In his statement at the trial, in which the three defendants who have been in prison since they were arrested appeared this Wednesday, Diego MM pleaded not guilty to murder. He said he left the bar where they had been drinking. He had been kicked out of the premises, but he assured that he does not even remember the reason, according to Europa Press. Outside, on the seafront in A Coruña, he saw a couple recording. They were Samuel and his friend Lina who were actually making a video call. “The last image I have is of hitting Samuel, I don’t know if with kicks or punches; I don’t have anything ongoing,” he said in response to his lawyer’s questions, the only ones he answered, in just 10 minutes.
For Diego MM, the prosecutor and the accusations ask for 25 years in prison for murder aggravated by homophobic discrimination. Several witnesses claimed that he told Samuel before attacking him: “Stop recording, let’s see if I’m going to kill you, faggot.” After the attack began, he explained that “a crowd of many people formed”: “I only heard noise, I can’t say if I did anything else or not.” Among his memories, he said, there is also that of Catherine SB, the accused who was then his girlfriend, telling him “something” that he was not able to specify.
“I have an image that I will never get out of my head: Samuel’s body on my right side face up,” he said, alluding to the moment in which the victim collapsed.
Diego MM admitted that after the brutal beating he deleted information from his phone. The reason, he explained, was that he was “scared” after learning, through the press, that Samuel Luiz was dead. He assured that now what he wants is for the facts to be clarified: “I am the first one who wants the truth to be known, for everything to be known.” He ended his statement with a message of apology: “I want to apologize to the family. This all started because of me. If I hadn’t started this, nothing would have happened, I would be alive. “I want to apologize to the family and to everyone.”
Another defendant admits that he grabbed Samuel by the neck
Before him, Alejandro FG, known as Yumba, testified at the trial, who is, according to witnesses and police, the young man who appears at the beginning of the attack on Samuel Luiz, grabs him by the neck from behind and throws him to the ground. This young man admitted that he grabbed Samuel – although he said that he did not perform a blow, that it is a technique that he only knows “by hearsay”, and that his intention was not to drown him – and that he did it “instinctively”: “I thought that “He was hitting on Diego.”
Alejandro FG maintains that he did not hit the victim and that their only contact was when he grabbed him from behind: “At no time did I throw punches at him,” he said, in response to questions from his lawyer, which are the only ones he has accepted. reply. He claims that, after grabbing him and knocking him down at first, he did not touch him again. For him, 22 years in prison are requested for murder.
“I saw Diego struggling with another boy, they were standing alone,” he said. He said that this was outside the entertainment venue on the A Coruña seafront promenade where they had previously been drinking. “We only struggled for a few seconds,” he continued, about his role in the attack and to deny that he was giving Samuel Luiz a blow. He never, he argued, practiced martial arts: “I wouldn’t know how to do a technique like that,” added this defendant, who pleaded not guilty to murder.
“If I had realized what was happening, I swear to God I would have tried to stop the attack,” he said, referring to the fact that he had consumed a lot of alcohol and cocaine that night. He declared himself “very sorry” for his participation in the events and asked for forgiveness, but maintained that his intervention was not what caused the death of the victim: “I believe that Samuel did not die because of me.”
Alejandro FG added that he did not hear homophobic insults and that he did not consider at any time whether the victim was homosexual. And regarding the two Senegalese who tried to help Samuel – one of them helped him get up and walk while the other tried to prevent more blows from hitting him – this defendant assured that they arrived with an “aggressive attitude” and that one “pushed” him when he approached. This made him feel attacked and he slapped him, which he claims did not reach his face due to the difference in height. He adds that when he saw Samuel collapse, he got scared.
Another defendant says he did not hit the victim
The second to testify was Kaio ASC, accused of murder and also of robbery with violence because he kept the victim’s cell phone. For this reason, 27 years in prison are requested. This young man maintained that he did not attack Samuel Luiz and that he approached the crowd to separate it. He pointed out both Diego MM and Alejandro FG and also one of the minors who were already convicted of murder. He said that when the victim stood up after the first blows and tried to walk away, he hit him on the head and Samuel staggered.
Regarding his participation, Kaio ASC, who answered questions from all parties, insisted that he “never” touched the deceased, neither to attack him nor to take his cell phone – he says he saw him on the street and stayed with him. . He realized that something was happening because his girlfriend at the time told him, he explained. Then he saw “two people with Samuel on the ground.” He denies that he kicked the victim, despite the fact that a witness claimed that he saw him arming his leg to do so and the police who analyzed the videos of the brutal attack also indicate that he was throwing the blow, although they could not specify if it hit. .
In his statement he said that he separated Alejandro FG first and that at that time Catherine SB was “separating Diego.” During what she calls a fight, she claims that this defendant was “desperate” for her then partner and Lina, Samuel’s friend, to help the victim.
Kaio ASC assured that he shouted “a couple of times” to stop those who were attacking Samuel. He said that he saw the victim collapse and that at that moment he was being helped by one of the Senegalese.
Regarding the cell phone, he admitted that he tried to sell it to a friend because he had already bought, he said, “more stolen things” from him before. Then, as events unfolded, he became scared. For this reason, he said, he dismantled and threw away the device. He saw on the news that it belonged to the victim.
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