Prosecutors have requested a trial for businessman Francisco Sáenz Valiente over the death of Brazilian woman Emmily Rodrigues Santos Gomes in March 2023 in Retiro. Charges include supplying narcotics and aggravated abandonment of a person resulting in death. They argue his assistance was too late and ineffective.
On March 30, 2023, Emmily Rodrigues Santos Gomes, a 26-year-old Brazilian woman, died after falling from the sixth floor of a building in Buenos Aires' Retiro neighborhood. The National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor's Office, temporarily led by prosecutor Alberto Adrián María Gentili, and the Specialized Unit for Violence against Women (UFEM), headed by Mariela Labozzetta, have requested the case be elevated to oral trial against businessman Francisco Sáenz Valiente.
According to the prosecutorial request, Sáenz Valiente organized a gathering in his apartment that morning, coordinating with a known woman to bring three more young women, including the victim. Simultaneously, he asked his supplier for "two whites and one tus," referring to cocaine and tuci, a mix of cocaine with LSD and MDMA. Around 3 a.m., five people were present: the accused and the four women.
Drugs were available on the table, books, and plates. Around 7 a.m., Emmily exhibited an "evident psychic alteration" due to the consumption of narcotics supplied by Sáenz Valiente. Despite this, no immediate help was provided; the gathering continued without medical assistance.
It was not until 9:09 a.m. that one of the women called emergency services, followed by the accused at 9:13 a.m., when Emmily's screams alerted neighbors, who also called 911. In a state of desperation, the young woman opened a window to the building's light well, leaned out, and fell, covering 21.5 meters to the ground floor. She died at 9:52 a.m. during ambulance transport to Fernández Hospital.
Prosecutors maintain that Sáenz Valiente's aid actions were "executed in a tardy manner, so they were no longer suitable to provide Emmily Rodrigues Santos Gomes with medical assistance that could compensate for her condition and save her life." They argue it fits aggravated abandonment of a person, carrying a 5-to-15-year penalty, as he created a risk scenario by supplying drugs and failed to act promptly.
Additionally, they analyze the case through a gender lens, invoking treaties like CEDAW and the Belém do Pará Convention, stressing state diligence in violence against women in sexualized contexts.
