“He is victim zero of La Chaparra,” he said of his lawyer. The phrase summarizes the forceful trick with which the defense of the two main accused – the daughter-in-law and the wife of the spiritual guru – has played to exonerate them in the trial against which Antonio Garrigós led for 30 years, who died in prison, in , in the interior of Castellón.
The lawyer has requested free acquittal for both of the defendants, also minors, and of illicit association, which the prosecution accuses them of, presenting them as just another victim and mitigating any responsibility because their “will” had been “annulled.”
The prosecution, after modifying their sentences, asks for 115 years in prison for them: 50 years for sexual abuse and two years for belonging to the organization for which the leader was a romantic partner; and 61 years for abuse and two for illicit association for the daughter-in-law. The “victim zero” of La Chaparra, the lawyer has stressed. Captured by the leader at the age of 15 through her parents, she claimed to have been abused by him in the family home. In his testimony he also explained that at the age of 16 he used it on her to “break the blockage of my ovaries.” It was Garrigós himself who married her to his son. One more sign that his “voluntary capacity was seriously impaired.”
This Thursday, the trial was heard for sentencing after 16 sessions and a huge parade of witnesses and experts. A closing in which the rest of the defenses of the other four defendants – three women and a man – have also requested acquittal for their clients.
“We are not going to deny that this is a deeply destructive and dangerous sect,” the lawyer began. This reality “also affected my clients.” Expressing “respect for all the victims” who have denounced within La Chaparra, the lawyer has acknowledged that there were. “It’s obvious.” But committed solely by the leader, he noted in his final report, after the prosecutor’s turn on Wednesday and the accusations, which left no doubt regarding the involvement of both women – as members of the leader’s closest circle – in the commission of abuses against minors, either as co-authors or as necessary collaborators. For the prosecutor, he used this “group of women” to commit “aberrant acts” against minors, to whom he has given total “credibility” in their “chilling testimonies,” which recount rapes, masturbations and pornographic projections. Facts in which several of the victims place the members of this circle close to Garrigós.
The defense lawyer has moved in the opposite direction and for two hours has demolished the idea of the existence of a hierarchy that would act as the executive arm of the spiritual guide to exempt both Uncle Toni’s wife and daughter-in-law from any criminal responsibility. “Antonio Garrigós was the central figure, the leader and the one who really carried out all this. It is indisputable.” He acted “in a very personal way,” he noted.
“The vast majority of the abuses were committed by Toni being alone. He did not need collaborators or anyone’s complicity,” the lawyer stated, to establish that his clients “did not make decisions, did not manage anything, did not indoctrinate or recruit anyone, did not do espionage or control work.” They were, he said, two more victims: “Garrigós deceived and abused my clients; they suffered his influence through the same aggressive methodology as the rest.”
Since the “profound annulment of their will,” due to the “psychological pressure” and “coercive persuasion” of the leader, they did not get the “click” of what was happening until they left La Chaparra, “like the other victims.” To exemplify this checkmate to their “cognitive abilities” that distances them, he has insisted, from the leadership position supported by the accusations, he has appealed to the so-called ‘circle of the chosen seven’, promoted by Uncle Toni to host group masturbations – in which according to several testimonies a minor participated – with which to shed light on the universe and avoid catastrophes. “The ‘circle of the chosen seven’ is from the psychiatric center and the acute unit. If this is not a mental disorder… When things are so obvious, there is no need for engineering, but even so, the psychological tests were carried out, which here have been clear.”
The lawyer has also ratified, in reference to Uncle Toni’s partner and daughter-in-law, that . The “absence of objective evidence” regarding the participation or presence in the events of the two women, and the questioning of the stories given by some victims, have joined the defense’s argument to draw a scenario opposite to that offered by the prosecution.
He has also dismantled the thesis of necessary cooperation: “Toni had a voice, hands and a mobile phone. He did not need anyone. There is no necessary cooperation, your honor,” he insisted. The public ministry states that it was “impossible” that the two defendants were not aware of what was happening in the sect in relation to minors, given that they were the ones who sometimes called the girls when they were required by Garrigós to appear in their room.
During much of his intervention, the defense lawyer has attacked the “double standard” to which his clients have been subjected and has been critical: “The duty of guarantor [de los menores] It belonged to the mothers who lived in La Chaparra” who, in his opinion, “consciously knew” about the abuse and who “do not sit here today.” [en el banquillo de los acusados]”.
After five hours of session, in which the other two defenses have also presented their final reports to the court, to also demand the acquittal of their clients, the trial, which has been held by the Provincial Court of Castellón in recent years, has been heard for sentencing.
