The night they killed Samuel Luiz At 24, the predominant voice calling him a “faggot” in the streets of La Coruña was that of Mountain Diego. A man who was 25 years old when he committed the attack and whom prosecutor Olga Serrano, responsible for investigating the case, defined as “the alpha male» of a “pack of wolves”.
A research thesis which was used this Sunday in the People’s Court of the case to declare it guilty of Luiz’s murder. The ratification of the crime was accompanied by aggravating circumstances of treason and homophobia due to the insults that Montaña uttered to Luiz while hitting him.
That of pack leader was not the only definition of Montaña that the prosecutor defended before the Provincial Court of La Coruña. “He is the leader that everyone follows and the example of brute force and violenceof which he is proud,” he declared ten days ago.
This violence was manifested against Samuel Luiz, who was walking on the promenade of La Coruña with his friend Lina Suárez while they were making a video call. At the same time, Montaña was kicked out of the El Andén pub for arguing with his then girlfriend, Catherine Silva (this Sunday declared innocent of murder). According to Serrano, the “sweet girl who has a toxic relationship with Diego.”
It was on the La Coruña promenade that Montaña thought Luiz’s cell phone was pointed at him. and when showed his homophobiawhich this Sunday constitutes an aggravating circumstance of the crime for which he was convicted. “Stop recording or I’ll kill you, faggot,” he shouted at the victim, a homophobic insult that he repeated several times.
They accompanied him during the brutal beating of Luiz Alexandre Freire And Kaio AmaralAlso found guilty as direct co-perpetrators of the murder; and two other minors already tried in 2022. All of them pursued Luiz to continue beating him. “Samuel’s death was a hunt,” Serrano said.
The only one who did not hit the young man at that time was Montaña’s “best friend”, Alejandro Mínguez, who was found guilty of complicity in the assassination for having acted “by eliminating the possibilities of defense of Samuel,” according to the People’s Court.
Mountain and its attenuated version
The harsh version with which prosecutor Serrano and the witnesses defined the guilt of the five accused contrasted with the statements made by Diego Montaña before the hearing on November 13. Between tears and a broken voice He said: “If I could give my life to Samuel, I would give it to him. »
The version he showed of the murder was toned down. “I saw some recordings, and the next image I have is hit Samuel. I don’t know if kicks or punches, I don’t remember, in my head I don’t have anything continuous from that night,” he explained in front of the Provincial Court without referring to homophobic insults.
He added a sorry for the family and took responsibility for starting to beat up Samuel. “It all started because of me. For me, if it hadn’t started, none of this would have happened. Well, he would be alive and everything,” he said through tears.
The guilt disappeared when he pleaded not guilty to Luiz’s murder for not remembering how the beating ended. The other attackers did the same. Nobody took the fatal blow which caused the death of the young 24-year-old nurse from La Coruña, from a kick to the head which caused devastating head trauma.
A version that seemed a total farce to prosecutor Serrano, who testified the next day. “They were aware that with the action they were taking, there was a high probability that he would die,” he told the judges.
Not only was the court forced to find Montaña guilty of the murder. Also for the discriminatory aggravating circumstance to be applied due to homophobic insults. The lawyer for the LGTBI+ Alas A Coruña foundation, Mario Pozzo Citro, who appeared in the case, declared outside court on November 14 that “what they shout at you when they kill you is important” and that Samuel was murdered “for fag cry“.
Montaña was not only linked to the crime by numerous witnesses, by the prosecutor’s accusations and by those of Luiz’s family. Also his DNA, which forensic science found on victim’s face on the day of the murder and presented as evidence on November 7 at the hearing.
The month in which witnesses, victims’ defenders, aggressors and Serrano went through the microphones of the Provincial Court of A Coruña ended with a guilty verdict for which the Prosecutor’s Office requests 25 years in prison for the Mountain. They would join the three who are already in prison since his arrest following Luiz’s death.
The other two guilty of the murder face sentences of 22 to 25 years in prison, while the sentence for Mínguez, an accomplice to the murder, could reach 13 years. The murder of Samuel Luiz already places those responsible one step away from conviction.
