From time to time, the Tucumán Justice Department becomes involved in some major scandal, generally related to its links with political power.
Now, at the beginning of a new work year – after the judicial fair in January – a storm of proportions and with international implications is approaching.
The storm – which has been brewing for a decade – includes a
former municipal official accused of abusing his 4-year-old grandson
, a very controversial ruling by the Tucumán Court (which revoked the 10-year prison sentence), the intervention of the national Supreme Court to get the case back on track and, in recent weeks, the
United States Embassy
.
"The embassy supports the concerns of the Defender of the Rights of Children and Adolescents and other Argentine organizations regarding the
long delays in seeking justice
and responsibility for the crime committed," says the note that the US embassy presented in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Diana Elena Mondino.
Without going into the details of the case, the US embassy pointed to a tremendous cause that had as a victim a 4-year-old boy abused by his maternal grandfather,
Guillermo Ernesto Gray (67)
, architect and former director of Public Works of Tafí de Valle. , under the government of José Alperovich
.
The baby's father is American and so is he.
Hence the intervention of the Embassy to
unblock the file that for 10 years had a laborious process
, like every time someone with ties to power sits in the dock.
To give an example of the resistance to investigating, here is a fact: although the case began in 2014, and the evidence against Gray was quite compelling, the sentence was only reached on May 4, 2021.
A Tucumán court sentenced him to
10 years in prison for sexual abuse aggravated by the bond
.
However, after an appeal and
in record time, the Supreme Court of Tucumán declared the sentence null and void,
citing formal errors.
Gray was only locked up for a year.
The victim's father, through the plaintiff lawyer Juan Pablo Gallego, presented an extraordinary federal appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
The situation became complicated again when the highest court – after a ruling by the Attorney General, Eduardo Casal – revoked the decision of the judges of the Tucumán Court and ordered the sentence to be handed down again.
This happened in August 2023 and there has been no news since then.
The ruling of the Supreme Court of the Nation.
In response to the US Embassy's claim presented on February 1, Judge Daniel Leiva – president of the Court – responded briefly on February 22: "It is necessary to demonstrate that what
was done respects current national and international standards
regarding due process. which protect the rights of all parties involved in the trial, guaranteeing them impartial, independent magistrates free from undue interference."
The case
The little boy started with
tics and strange movements when he was 2 years old
.
His father took him to a psychologist who saw nothing, and to a specialist, because he thought he might suffer from autism.
At 4 years old, the boy was finally able to speak:
“Grandpa puts his finger in my tail.”
The words were corroborated by his pediatrician and the doctors who examined him at the Niño Jesús hospital.
Since then, the boy has lived with his father, who immediately
reported this grandfather and the boy's mother, for knowing about the abuse and not intervening
.
The boy's father and his grandmother had to battle against local justice for years because they favored Gray, a powerful man.
They even reached the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
When his grandson was born, Gray's daughter was 18 years old and so he managed to have both the girl and her baby live in his house (the baby's parents never lived together as a couple), where the abuse later occurred.
In the psychological reports that appear in the case it appears that both this grandfather's wife and his daughter would have been victims of Gray's violence and then those who forced the little boy to keep his mouth shut and not say anything.
But in 2014, the 4-year-old boy was able to tell everything his grandfather did to specialists at Cámara Gesell.
Apparently the abuses occurred between April 2013 and April 2014.
The mother was charged as a secondary participant, but a
“judicial error”
left her out of the trial, since the arguments for her accusation spoke of a necessary participant.
She was later denounced for cover-up.
One of the lawyers who defended the family of the accused is Facundo Maggio, defender of abusive priests and soldiers of the dictatorship involved accused of crimes against humanity.
The note from the US Embassy to the Tucumán Court to issue a ruling on the case of abuse that involves Gustavo Gray.
The note from the US Embassy to the Tucumán Court to issue a ruling on the case of abuse that involves Gustavo Gray.
The note from the US Embassy to the Tucumán Court to issue a ruling on the case of abuse that involves Gustavo Gray.
MG