Guatemala
Due to the resolution, the surgeon accused of the homicide of Floridalma Roque will not be able to leave prison, since the audience of acceptance of charges and the benefits granted was suspended.
The plastic surgeon Kevin Malouf was sentenced to the minimum penalty by Judge Pedro Laynez for the death of Floridalma Roque. (PHOTO FREE PRESS: PL hemeroteca)
The Constitutional Court (CC) annulled the judicial benefits that surgeon Kevin Malouf recently received, accepting charges for guilty homicide and receiving a three -year sentence of three years and four months in prison, which could exchange for the payment of a fine of Q5 per day. Due to the resolution of the CC, the doctor will not be able to assert those benefits and leave prison.
During today’s plenary session, the CC met an amparo presented by the Public Ministry (MP) that questioned the change of crime in favor of Malouf. Initially, he was accused of homicide, but the judge in charge of the case, Pedro Laynez, modified him to guilty homicide.
The MP accuses Malouf for homicide, since it did not provide the patient’s necessary medical care during aesthetic surgery, on June 13, 2023.
Upon knowing the case through the amparo of the MP, the CC suspended the change of crime in favor of the defendant, as well as the conviction obtained by accepting charges, which guaranteed Malouf a next prison exit.
During the investigation for the disappearance and murder of Floridalma Roque, the MP exposed how Malouf simulated that Roque had abandoned the clinic. Subsequently, he dismembered the patient’s body and hid it to try to evade justice.
The victim’s relatives indicated that the penalty imposed on Malouf was a “mockery”, due to the way in which Roque’s disappearance occurred. However, Judge Laynez did not accept the arguments of the Prosecutor’s Office or the complainants and issued a minor penalty to the doctor, who has been suspended by the resolution of the CC.