Four defendants testified for the crime of English in Puerto Madero: one admitted to participating in a robbery from another tourist

One of the 13 accused of joining an illegal association dedicated to assaulting foreigners who were being followed from Ezeiza airport to their places in accommodation, and that on December 14, 2019 he killed the English tourist Matthew Gibbard during a robbery in Puerto Madero, he admitted his participation in one of the events being tried.

In turn, three of the defendants pleaded not guilty to the Criminal and Correctional Court 17, which also tries them for seven other “aggravated robberies” in hotels and other places in the City of Buenos Aires.

José Lozano León, one of four Venezuelans accused of having participated directly in the crime of the English businessman, claimed to be innocent and that he entered the country on December 6, 2019, and then stayed at a hotel in the Buenos Aires town of Ciudadela. He said that he arrived there because of recommendations on social networks.

As stated last week by Ángel Eduardo “Cachete” Lozano Azuaje, the main accused of the crime, Lozano León argued that he escaped to Jujuy because it was “rumored” that they would search the hotel and that he did not want to be deported.

He pointed out that he met “Cachete” and Carlos José López Sánchez — another of those accused of murdering the tourist — on the bus where they traveled to the north of the country.

Regarding the last of those accused of the crime of the Englishman, Aly José Ramos Ladera, explained that she was with him in a place in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Liniers, since he had documentation that allowed him to send money to the mother of his daughter.

Ramos Ladera denied his involvement in Gibbard's crime and explained that he only signed a document in which he put a vehicle in his name, requested by a group of Colombians and Venezuelans after arriving in Liniers, since he had entered the country legally. “I trusted and that's why I'm here: I never drove a car in my life, I was deceived and used,” he denounced.

As reported by the prosecutors' portal, then it was the turn of Miguel Ángel Aguirre Cancine. He acknowledged that a day before Gibbard's murder, he participated, along with Lozano Azuaje, Lozano León, Ramos Ladera and López Sánchez, in the assault of another tourist who was robbed of a Rolex watch on the corner of Villanueva and Teodoro García streets, Palermo neighborhood.

“I came with the purpose of starting a business but I found myself in need and I made a mistake,” Aguirre Cancine said. He said that he was given a replica of a firearm to commit the robbery, and he concluded: “Imagine, I don't even know how to steal: I told him to give me my belongings and he threw himself on me, I don't know how to carry out a robbery, it was the first time he took a gun.”

And finally, Samuel Francisco Zerpa Menezes stated that he only knew one of the defendants and that he bought a car with his brother, later rented by a Venezuelan to work as a driver for the travel app “Uber”.

After the investigations, TOC 7, composed of judges Silvia Guzzardi, Pablo Vega and Juan Giudice Bravo, went to an intermediate room until the next hearing, where three witnesses to the crime will testify.

The request for an elevation in the judgment of investigating prosecutor Juan Pedro Zoni described that on December 14, 2019, Lozano Azuaje, Lozano León, Ramos Ladera, López Sánchez and other persons who were not identified “marked” Gibbard and his family in the arrivals sector of Ezeiza airport. This is how they began to follow, on board two cars and a motorcycle, the combi that transported the victims.

Then, after arriving at the Hotel Faena, located in Martha Salotti at 400 Puerto Madero, and when Gibbard and his son were getting off the vehicle, Lozano Azuaje approached them showing them a gun and demanded that they hand over their bags and watches.

According to the accusation and what was recorded by security cameras, there began a struggle with both victims, which culminated in Lozano Azuaje shooting. Gibbard was shot twice in the back, killing him while his stepson, Stefan Zone, 28, was shot in the left leg. It caused an exposed lateral fracture of the femur.

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