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ARGENTINA | 24-09-2021 15:10

Man who raped four daughters for decades sentenced to 50 years in jail

Alejandro Manuel Rosario Leguizamón, 55, convicted by court in Morón for repeated sexual abuse and rape of his four daughters over past two decades.

Issuing a ruling of unprecedented length, a court in Morón on Thursday sentenced a 55-year-old businessman to 50 years in jail for years of sexual abuse against his own four daughters.

Alejandro Manuel Rosario Leguizamón, 55, was condemned by the judges presiding over Oral Criminal Court No. 1 of Morón, Buenos Aires Province, for multiple crimes dating back more than two decades. 

The owner of a membrane production factory, Leguizamón was convicted of several criminal acts including sexual abuse, three counts of unlawful sexual abuse causing serious damage to the victim and nine counts of repeated unlawful sexual intercourse, all aggravated by them being perpetrated by a relative in a family home. Other charges included violence, the illegal possession of a firearm and threats against the victims, who were warned not to tell the authorities.

The unanimous verdict, signed by Judges Claudio Chaminade, Juan Carlos Uboldi and Mariana Maldonado, was read out to cheers from the court. The defendant was not present to hear the sentence, which met the maximum amount requested by Prosecutor Pablo Masferrer.

The four victims – Romina (aged 32), Soledad (30), Carolina (29) and Evangelina (27) – hugged each other and burst into tears.

Perpetrated at the family home in the town of Castelar, where Leguizamón lived with his wife and 11 children, the acts began when the four girls were of kindergarten age. They finally denounced him on April 16, 2016, alleging multiple acts of sexual abuse and rape, though Leguizamón fled from police and remained at large until 2019, when he was finally arrested and transferred to a prison awaiting trial, which began on September 6.

"Since I can remember, I was abused many times. I denounced him because the harassment was already too much. It took me a long time to make that decision, but I finally did it after speaking with my sisters," the eldest of the four, Romina, told the Primer Plano news portal. 

She revealed that her father had even written her a letter, in which he proposed that they live as a couple together and tell his wife, "so that she could do therapy and accept it." 

"Me with you is not abuse, it is incest. I am in love with you," he allegedly wrote in words that helped spur the women into action.

According to the casefile, the daughters were raped and abused by their father from their kindergarten years onwards, while their mother also suffered abuse and violence.

Leguizamón denied the charges before the court and claimed the accusations against him were part of a plan by his family to take over his factory and business. According to local outlets, in testimony he admitted to the court that “sometimes, I got out of hand.”

 

– TIMES/AFP/PERFIL

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