“My daughter’s life will not be returned to me, even if they stay in jail for years,” says Bernardita Zúñiga from Puerto Montt, just over a year after the death of Débora Cárcamo, an English pedagogy student, who was 20 years old when a drunk driver ran over her, an accident that caused her death.
Débora was walking at 5:10 a.m. on July 16, 2019 through the intersection of Benavente and Freire streets, in Puerto Montt, when she was hit by a car driven by Jonathan Gómez Henríquez, who moments before had been seen leaving a pub in town. After the impact, Gómez fled without helping the young woman, who died after 40 minutes. The defense of Débora’s family considers that, had she received timely help, the young woman could have survived, considering that the driver, at that time a dental student, was traveling accompanied by the doctor Patricio Lara, who performed functions in the Puerto Montt Hospital.
Although at first Gómez was in preventive detention, on October 1 the justice reduced his precautionary measures to total house arrest. Since then, the case has been without major progress and the term of the investigation has been extended several times. One of the aspects that has delayed the investigation was that, when he fled, it was not possible at the time to take Gómez’s breathalyzer, whose responsibility in the case was later proven as a result of a security camera review.
And not only that: As the then prosecutor in the case, Julio Martínez, explained to Radio Biobío, two days after the outrage, Gómez tried to travel to the United States. However, he explained, “he could not enter, and had to return to the country.” After this his capture was finalized.
Although a year has passed since the death of Débora, justice could be soon to arrive: the prosecutor in the case, Pamela Salgado, has already received all the expert opinions that were pending, with which she would be in a position to review the future prosecution of the case. Once this diligence is completed, the case will enter the oral trial preparation stage, where the responsibility of Jonathan Gómez in the death of Débora and the eventual penalty that may fall against him will be determined. Although at the moment there are no dates, during the second semester there could be news, which will depend -in any case- on the situation of the coronavirus, which has delayed hearings throughout the country.
“The great questioning of this cause is that the person left the place, and could have helped, in addition to being accompanied by a person who was a doctor. There is a question other than legal, moral. A person who runs over another, leaves it lying, especially when he goes with a copilot who is a doctor, with all the principles that govern the actions of a doctor, they leave it lying. This is relevant because Débora was alive for almost an hour after the accident, ”recalls the family’s lawyer, Andrés Firmani.
Alcohol intake of the accused and the penalties he risks
During the process, the defense of Jonathan Gómez has argued that Débora would have recklessly exposed herself to risk when crossing the street. However, Firmani explains, the security camera records show that the driver did not try to brake or slow down, or change lanes, something entirely possible on an avenue like Benavente, which has four lanes.
“A sober driver would have braked, slowed down, changed lanes. All his behavior is due to the fact that his alcoholic intake prevents him from reacting, ”says the lawyer for Débora’s family. Had the young woman stopped it would only have resulted in fractures.
And although there is no breathalyzer – due to the fact that the driver fled – there are other elements of evidence that allow us to account for the amount of alcohol that Gómez ingested before getting into the car with which he ran over the young woman.
Crucial in this is the first statement delivered by the doctor Patricio Lara, who was accompanying the accused. “He describes in absolute detail what he drank and what Jonathan drank. Apart from taking a few shots of tequila, they had pisco, beers, on the first floor of the pub. Then, on the second floor, where the disco used to work, they had between 8 to 10 drinks, ”says the lawyer about the testimony that is part of the investigative folder. Added to this is the record of security cameras of the pub where they were, and where it is possible to see the accused buy alcohol on repeated occasions.
It is these antecedents that -according to the lawyer- allow to prove the crimes of driving while intoxicated resulting in death, which includes penalties ranging from 3 years and one day to 10 years in prison, to which is added the The crime of fleeing the scene of the accident, which includes penalties that start from 3 years and one day to 5.
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