Accused of Úrsula’s murder to stand trial tomorrow on another gender-based violence case

Matías Ezequiel Martínez, the Buenos Aires police officer accused of the murder of Úrsula Bahillo with at least 15 stab wounds, will face tomorrow an oral trial for another case of gender violence: He is accused of threatening to kill his ex-partner Belén Miranda with his service weapon in 2017.

The hearing will take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Criminal Court of Junín No. 1. In case No. 314/2019 Martínez is accused of “Aggravated injuries and threats” against Miranda. “I desperately despair that there is justice, not so much for myself, but for Úrsula. I want to remove this backpack that I have been wearing for four years, ”confessed the victim THE NATION. She had a year-long relationship with him and describes him as a “psychopath”: she said he physically and verbally assaulted all the women he had relationships with, including her.

Miranda denounced him because one day Martínez returned from work in the house where they both lived with Belén’s children, and when he saw that he had removed the mattress in the air because a some boys had stained it, he threw her against the wooden elastic of the bed and when she fell to the ground he put the gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

She managed to free herself, he left the house and from outside pointed to her through the window. Miranda stood in front of her children to protect them, because he waved the gun from side to side threatening to kill them. In the end, he was able to escape with the boys and join his brother’s, who lives next door, where they locked themselves in the bathroom and waited for Martínez to leave. On the same day, she went to the police station of the Women’s Police Station, where she filed a complaint.

After that, her romantic relationship with the policeman came to an end for good, but her ordeal continued. For almost four years he “fought” with the law to protect it, because what has been done so far was unnecessary. He had a perimeter, but just like he did with rsula later, whenever he saw her he was chasing her. Meanwhile, Belén learned of more cases of gender-based violence that linked him.

Some time ago, Úrsula contacted Belén, because she was aware of the relationship she had had with Martínez. The young woman told him: “If something happens to me, you know he killed me.” A bond of discord had been created between the two. This is why, for Miranda, tomorrow is a “key day”: she hopes that the resolution will benefit the cause of the murdered young woman. “I’ll do something for her, late, but at least something,” he said.

In a letter posted to social media after the murder, Miranda said, referring to Úrsula: “I promised you that I would go with you, I was and I will continue to be, though I know it was not enough; while I heard you say that Matías was going to kill you, inside I knew it was true because I met him and because also I suffered their threats his flare-ups and even his regulatory weapon pointed at me, because I reported it in 2017 and it has always appeared for my work and I couldn’t go home for two months ”.

And he added, “I have to admit that sometimes I feel guilty and I need to tell you. Sometimes I have this horrible feeling about what I could have done something more for you but I was also scared and just wanted to leave to be with my children. “

Miranda requested that Martínez be present at the trial: “I asked to have him face to face because I am with all my strength. I know we will do justice, that’s what I want most ”. The policeman could be sentenced to one to five years in prison. “I know it’s nothing compared to the perpetual he deserves because of rsula, but I hope this can help you,” Miranda pointed out.

Bahillo, 18, was murdered last Monday by handfuls. His body was found in Guido Spano, a rural area of city ​​of Rojas, where she had been summoned by her ex-partner, a policeman from Buenos Aires who was with psychiatric record since September 2020.

The victim had already denounced Martínez for gender violence, there was therefore a measure to restrict the perimeter. It is believed that the accused summoned her for an interview and, after a heated discussion, stabbed her to death and, with the same knife, he injured himself.

Rsula’s friends used the networks as a channel to post screenshots with messages from the murdered young woman herself, which detailed how Martínez hit her and when she decided to report him. “He beat me badly”, “he beat me for seven months” and “until I saw myself dead, that’s why I reported him” were some of his messages.

When the crime came to light on Monday evening, rsula’s friends, relatives and neighbors took to the streets to seek justice and the police cracked down on them with rubber bullets.

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