The statement of the main defendant in the crime of Samuel Luiz barely lasted ten minutes. He has refused to answer the questions of the accusations and has not wanted to know anything about those of the lawyers of his four colleagues on the bench. He has only responded to his lawyer. And in an express interrogation, punctuated by some tears, he asked for forgiveness from the victim’s family: “What I want is to ask for forgiveness from Samuel’s family and from everyone. If I hadn’t started, none of this would have happened. And he would still be alive.
But the fact that he has apologized for having initiated the attack does not imply, by any means, that Diego Montaña admits guilt. In reality, in essence, what he has done, in the seventeenth session of the trial, which is hosted by the Provincial Court of La Coruña, is admit that it was he who initiated the attack and claim that he was completely drunk. But he says he only remembers hitting the victim in the first moments. Various “punches and kicks”, yes.
Samuel and his friend Lina, who that night from July 2 to 3 had gone partying in La Coruña without messing with anyone, left the Andén pub, on the Riazor promenade, and began to make a video call with a friend who was night he had not gone out. It was at that moment that Diego Montaña, as he acknowledged this Wednesday in the trial, attacked the victim: “I saw a couple recording, the next image I have in my head is me hitting.” “The image I have is that I am already hitting Samuel, I don’t know if kicking or punching,” has added.
Diego Montaña faces 25 years in prison, because to the murder with cruelty and treachery the accusations add the aggravating circumstance of discrimination based on sex. According to the Prosecutor’s thesis, supported by several eyewitnesses, Diego Montaña called Samuel a “faggot” while threatening to kill him, before attacking him.
But the accused has not made reference to that moment, nor has his lawyer asked him about it. His story skips that episode: «I left the Andén pub, I continued straight, the stairs were next to me, “I saw a couple recording, and the next image I have is me hitting.” What he does remember is that he drank, practically alone, a bottle of whiskey mixed with Red Bull in the pub’s booth. The gang had ordered one bottle for every two friends, and he shared it with Catherine Silva, his then partner and now also accused: “I drank almost the entire bottle, because Kathy was not a big alcohol drinker,” he clarified.
“I will never forget it”
In short, that is what Diego Montaña says he remembers: that he drank a lot and that he recognizes that he initiated the attack. But little more. The next thing he says he remembers is the already beaten victim. «I follow the promenade, I cross the race, and I see an image that I will never get out of my head: Samuel’s body lying face up, with several people by his side», the one who is possibly the main accused of the crime has limited himself to saying.
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