The horror suffered by the trans woman with developmental delay beaten and raped in a wasteland of Occult City

Last week, the Crimes Against Public Health division of the City Police arrested Juan Manuel Nieva and Nicolás Alejandro Nieva, two men from Ciudad Occulta, one of the settlements in Villa Lugano, accused of an aberrant series of crimes. For several months throughout 2020, according to the case investigated by Judge Paula González, they tormented a 25-year-old girl with a third suspect who is living with a developmental delay. They harassed her because of her gender identity, because she is a trans woman, migrant, originally from Paraguay.

They threw homophobic insults at her, denigrated her, besieged her at every encounter. Then, on a Sunday in July of that year, she was intercepted in a corridor and taken to a vacant lot inside the neighborhood. They held her tightly, covered her mouth to block her screams. They beat her in the face and threatened her even more. Then, at gunpoint, pointed to her face, she was raped. The three of them took turns, one by one. They tried to ensure their silence. “If you say anything, we're going to kill you,” one of them told him. There was a shot: a butt hit to the head.

The young woman lost consciousness, but the terror did not end there.

The story went on over time, it held for months. The three suspects threatened her in person in the vicinity of her home and at the junction of 2 de Abril and General Paz. They physically assaulted her again, with at least two incidents recorded in late September and early October 2021. They even beat her in front of her nephew while taking him to kindergarten, literally attacking her with fists in front of the boy.

On October 7 of last year, the victim had to run for his life again. They crossed it near the New Chicago court. “Look, let's beat it up,” said one of them.

The victim, supported by a community organization, made the complaint in 2021, with a long process of declarations. Thus, prosecutor González ordered on March 10 the arrests of three of the suspects and their search, especially asking them to search for the gun with which they threatened the victim.

Both detainees were raided in Occult City and La Matanza. The third suspect, however, has not yet been found. In just under 24 hours, his defenses called for the release, which were rejected by the judge.

The classification of the case against him is long: sexual abuse aggravated by his commission with carnal access, with a firearm and a plurality of interveners, coercive threats, minor injuries aggravated by hatred of his gender identity.

251 femicides and 10 transvesticides were committed between January and November 2021 in the country, according to a report by the Femicide Observatory in Argentina “Adriana Marisel Zambrano”, which is coordinated by the Civil Association La Casa del Encuentro.

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