By Humberto Viera
The trial for the death of Diego Armando Maradona experienced one of its harshest days this Thursday. Verónica Ojeda, the star’s ex-partner and mother of his youngest son, completed her testimonial statement in the San Isidro courts, offering a detailed account of the advanced state of abandonment and physical deterioration in which the “Diez” was found just forty eight hours before his death on November 25, 2020.
Ojeda described to the court a scene of absolute negligence in the house in Tigre where Maradona was undergoing his home confinement: “I found him swollen like a ball, bearded and with a bad smell,” He stated, highlighting that the idol had a portable toilet next to the bed and that the environment in the home was “unpleasant.”
“There was no Diego that we knew,” she stated, assuring that she wanted to take him to a clinic but that the medical infrastructure in the place was null: “There was absolutely nothing, not even an ambulance,” declared Diego’s ex-partner.
During the hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office showed audios and text messages exchanged between the main defendants: neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Díaz and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov. In the records, an attitude of dismissal towards Ojeda’s alerts is perceived.
In one of the audios, Luque minimized the situation: “The guy is going to have to get out of bed at some point… we don’t have to go crazy.” For his part, the psychologist Carlos Díaz even questioned the authority of the witness: “Who is Verónica Ojeda? They speak from complete ignorance.”
Currently, seven health professionals face charges for alleged negligence and malpractice in Maradona’s care:
- Leopoldo Luque (General practitioner)
- Agustina Cosachov (Psychiatrist)
- Carlos Díaz (Psychologist)
- Nancy Forlini (Medical Coordinator)
- Mariano Perroni (Nurse Coordinator)
- Ricardo Almirón (Nurse)
- Pedro Di Spagna (Clinical doctor)
Keep reading:
Trial for the death of Diego Armando Maradona restarts
Maradona’s body was “very swollen” when the police arrived
·New trial for Maradona’s death began with crossed accusations