After the resolution of the Constitutional Court (CC) that annulled the condemnation of the doctor Kevin Malouf, sentenced to three years and four months in prison, that he could exchange for the payment of a fine of Q5 per day, the defendant’s defense said that his defendant will declare before a judge, while the Floridalma Roque family says that there is a new hope that justice will be done.
Alejandro Arriaza, Malouf’s lawyer, said that the nurse Luis Castro recorded some audios in which he does not reveal the whole truth
“The doctor has not declared, but, by me, he needs to do it before a competent judge to deny all the falsehoods that the nurse says, because he washes his hands and dirties the other three people,” Arriaza said.
In these recordings you hear how they would have discussed the way of diverting research, suggesting deleting evidence, such as videos, and holding a false version about the patient’s output.
In the audio, Kevin Malouf, Susana Rojas – infermera – and Lydia Viviana Silva – Anesthesiologist – talk about how to hide Roque’s body, agreeing that they would make believe that she left the clinic.
The Malouf lawyer commented that, in those audios, the nurse appears as “a saint.”
“In fact, he is not an effective collaborator and the Public Ministry changes the crime,” he said.
Will face trial for homicide
The resolution of the CC suspended the change of crime that Judge Pedro Laynez authorized last November and that allowed the doctor to access the mechanism of acceptance of charges. Laynez modified the crime at that homicide hearing to guilty homicide.
The Court accepted the appeal of the Public Ministry (MP), which questions the change of crime in favor of Malouf and allowed to obtain a three -year sentence and four months in jail. Being less than five years, the sanction could be replaced by the payment of a fine of approximately Q6 thousand.
The arguments
In the resolution, the five titular magistrates of the CC unanimously accepted the arguments raised by the MP.
This measure has as its main consequence the suspension of the change of crime in favor of Malouf and the annulment of the audience in which it was allowed to take advantage of the procedure for accepting charges.
Before the resolution of the CC, the Malouf lawyer presented an appeal for clarification so that the magistrates extend the decision granted by provisional amparo in favor of the MP.
“Some justification, some of act or law in which the honorable magistrates of the Constitutional Court have been based, there is no. They only establish that it was advisable to grant the provisional protection and order that it be so, ”said Arriaza.
Floridalma Roque family
José Roque, son of Floridalma Roque, said that it is a relief that the CC has changed the crime to homicide and that they still have hopes in Guatemalan justice.
“There are entities in which we can trust and which we can keep faith,” he said.
The victim’s son said he hopes the case will be resolved based on law and not money.
“We want to thank all the Guatemalan people and the different groups, for example, lawyers, doctors, journalists and non -governmental institutions that joined our struggle demanding justice,” he said.
José Roque indicated that it was an injustice the sentence imposed on those accused of the disappearance and death of his mother.
“We want justice and not revenge, so that we, as victims, feel satisfied and feel a precedent that in Guatemala there is still hope of having justice and peace for Guatemalan families,” he emphasized.
The recordings
The audio, delivered as proof, exposes how Malouf tries to convince his staff by ensuring: “We are not killing anyone, we are just doing our best for everyone.”
In the recording, a man, apparently Luis Castro, the nurse, expresses that he does not agree with the plan to hide the body and argue that the right thing would be to call the patient’s relatives.
However, Malouf persuads him to move forward with his version of the facts.
“May God forgive me, but if I had known what was going to come with that patient” – referring to an earlier case against him – “I would have done this,” the surgeon replies.
Plot to hide Roque’s body
Then, the conversation goes to the issue of how Malouf will take care that the victim’s body does not appear.
“If there is a god, I apologize for lack of respect. I insist, we did everything to save his life ”, he heard the doctor say, while reiterating his intention to make his body disappear.
Later, Malouf mentions that, if they were in the United States, he would not mind being investigated, but that, in Guatemala, a town of Narcos, “we are talking about something recurrent in the same place,” he heard say.
In addition, he reveals his intention to disappear Roque’s body and ensures: “I take care that never appears and, if I can give it a burial, I give it to him, but I have to talk to someone, I can’t do that alone.”
Floridalma Roque case
On June 13, 2023, Floridalma Roque was last seen alive in Europlaza, zone 14. That day he died during surgery and those responsible tried to hide a bad medical practice disappearing the body, the MP said.
Roque lived in the United States and, according to migratory records, entered Guatemala on June 3, 2023 on a flight that arrived at La Aurora International Airport, from Honduras. The reason for the trip was to practice cosmetic surgery at the Kevin Malouf clinic, located in one of the most luxurious buildings in the capital.
She planned to operate the sagging of arms and eyelids on June 13, 2023, but then she was no longer known about her whereabouts.
According to MP’s investigation, Roque entered the clinic and did not leave, while the Malouf surgeon said the patient left the place.
According to the Femicide Prosecutor’s Office, the plastic surgeon Kevin Malouf, two nurses and the anesthesióloga simulated the departure of Roque. The Red nurse was the one who sat in a wheelchair and pretended to be the patient, while Castro took her out of the clinic.
Then, the alleged patient rose to a taxi and went to zone 10, where she descended from the vehicle and met with Malouf.
In the reconstruction of the facts, the MP explained to the judge that Roque arrived on June 13, 2023 to the clinic accompanied by Star Sandoval de Mazariegos and that, a day before, made a payment of Q74 400 for the operation.
The videos show how Roque arrives in a black truck and leaves it at the entrance of the building. Then, the images capture it in the lobby with a suitcase and, seconds later, the clinic staff takes it to the elevator and transfer it to the third level, where the aesthetic clinic is.
Prior to this, it is seen entering the clinic personnel and even the anesthesiologist, who loads his team for the intervention.
Mutilated corpse
Nurse Castro decided to declare in the Chamber on May 2, 2024, during the intermediate stage of the judicial process.
According to his testimony, both he and the other employees warned Malouf that it was necessary to acquire insulin and, in the most desperate moments, which was required to urgently move the patient to a hospital.
However, Malouf refused.
“We tell Mr. Malouf to move to Mrs. Roque and he says no, that it is very expensive, that he will not pay it,” Castro added.
“Unfortunately, Mrs. Roque never woke up and could not know to this day what was the cause,” he added.
It was then that, when he continued with his statement, he revealed that Malouf, he and the other two involved were responsible for having placed the body in a large boat with wheels, followed by a phrase that resonated in the room: “It was fetal.”
The prosecutor asked him another direct question: “Can you indicate who helps in that regard?” Castro responded immediately: “The four people we were in the clinic.”
At 23.57 hours on the same day, after the operation, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, Malouf retired from his clinic and transferred the victim’s remains to his home in Santa Catarina Pinula.
Hours later, Malouf, along with other people, coordinated actions to disappear the victim’s body.
The prosecutor indicated that dentated mountains were used with which they fragmented the body of Floridalma Roque. He continued: “Then, you – Malouf – and his partners agree to launch the human remains of his victim to a wooded area in San Vicente Pacaya, Escuintla.”
The human remains were located on June 5, 2024 inside a pit, about 29 kilometers from the capital.