The nightmare began with a WhatsApp message. It was two in the morning on June 3 when Pablo Vicente Murúa, 47, contacted a brothel in Belgrano to hire sexual services. Half an hour later, he arrived by motorcycle from Mataderos. He waited at the door until he was given the exact address: Arribeños 2100. He went up to the apartment and a young woman led him to the room. But instead of taking off his clothes, he pulled out a gun.
«Give me the money you have and shut up. I’ll shoot you,» Murúa snapped at the sex worker, according to the indictment request signed by prosecutor José María Campagnoli. After demanding her cell phone, he taped her mouth shut and tied her hands with zip ties. Nervous, he went out to the hallway and shouted at two other prostitutes to hand over their money and phones. «Don’t call the police. They’ve been turned in,» he warned them.
He managed to tie up one of the girls, but Fernanda A., who was closer to the door and had a set of keys in her hand, escaped to the landing. She knocked twice on the building manager’s door asking for help. Then Murúa caught up with her, aimed at her head, and fired. «I’ll kill you,» he shouted before pulling the trigger. The bullet grazed the prostitute’s temple; she fell to her knees but did not lose consciousness. Miraculously, she survived.
Prosecutor Campagnoli requested that Murúa be tried for aggravated robbery with use of a firearm, illegal carrying of a firearm, and attempted criminis causae homicide, i.e., an attempted murder to ensure impunity for the robbery. The prosecution disagrees with the previous classification by Judge Fernando Caunedo, who had only charged robbery and minor weapons possession. For Campagnoli, the shot to the head and the phrase «I’ll kill you» demonstrate clear homicidal intent, although fortunately he did not achieve his goal.
That early morning, Murúa escaped with loot of between 60,000 and 80,000 pesos and four cell phones. He ran along Arribeños to Avenida del Libertador and Juramento, where a woman was waiting for him on a motorcycle. Before leaving, he bought a chocolate bar at a kiosk. Security cameras from the Urban Monitoring Center (CMU) and those of a 24-hour kiosk captured his face, his nervousness, and his clothing, which matched the victims’ description.
Investigators from the City Police Homicide Division tracked the Yamaha MT07ST motorcycle using license plate readers. It left Mataderos at 2:11 a.m. and was identified on Avenida Juan Bautista at 6800. The images confirmed that the driver was Murúa. «It was determined that the physique of the motorcycle owner was very similar to the details provided by the victims,» the prosecution stated.
The case is now in the hands of Judge Diego Souto, who must decide whether to send the case to trial with the charge of attempted homicide. Meanwhile, Murúa remains in custody. The sex worker, who asked not to be identified, still cannot believe she is alive. «I felt the brush of the bullet on my head and thought I was dying,» she testified in the case. The justice system is now seeking to determine whether the woman waiting for him on the motorcycle also participated in the robbery.
para mi esto es siempre lo mismo la puta victima de la sociedad y el macho asesino suelto este forro se creyo con derecho a matar xq pago basta de patriarcado justicia para ella cadena perpetua para el #NiUnaMenos
Para mí este es otro zurdo de mierda que defiende chorros. Vino de afuera, casi mata a una mina de un tiro en la cabeza y el fiscal Campagnoli pide solo tentativa de homicidio. Esto huele a complicidad. Hay que limpiar Argentina de esta escoria, basta de derechos humanos para delincuentes.