QCOSTARICA — Relatives, friends, and lawyers of the family of María Tacsan, murdered by her husband in September 2020, expressed that justice has been done with the decision of the criminal court, finding Dr. Carlos Andrés Pérez guilty of femicide.
“Thank God, justice was done. It is clear that they are not going to give María back to us, but that there is justice is the best news,” said Leilyn Tacsan, a relative of the victim.
By unanimous decision, the judges of the Tribunal Criminal de Heredia (Heredia Criminal Courts) declared doctor Carlos Andrés Pérez guilty of femicide and sentenced to 35 years in prison. The Court also ordered the doctor to 8 months in preventive detention (remand) allowing for appeal and firming up of the sentence.
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According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Pérez simulated Tacsan’s suicide on September 19, 2020, in the house where the couple lived, in San Rafael de Heredia.
Federico Campos, lawyer for the victim’s family, stated that they were sure and confident that the result of the second trial would conclude with a guilty verdict.
“Justice was done for her (María Tacsan), her family, friends and for all those who believed that she had never committed suicide and that she was murdered, as the evidence indicated. In the first trial, the Court was not convinced of that conclusion, but in this trial we had an objective Court, which was always attentive to the reception of the evidence.
“During the trial, there was a parade of experts and forensic scientists who accredited María’s murder. Sometimes, justice is slow and not as fast as people believe, grinding slowly,” said Campos.
In March 2023, the accused was acquitted due to doubt; However, the prosecution and lawyers appealed the sentence and a new trial was ordered, which ended on Monday, August 19, 2024.
According to the prosecution, Pérez took advantage of his status as a doctor to give the victim a high dose of a drug (lidocaine) that caused neurological disability, and then placed and fired a gun on the woman’s palate, immediately causing her death.
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“The evidence in this case was overwhelming, the defense, throughout the entire process as in the last trial, tried to imply that María had committed suicide, but the physical and digital evidence was well accepted because the defendant wanted to make people believe that María had sent text messages and by that time she was already dead,” said Daniela Vargas, the lawyer in charge of the civil compensatory action of the Tacsan family.
The Court also upheld the civil action for compensation filed by the Tacsan family for ¢100 million colones.
The attendance of Carlo Díaz, Attorney General of Costa Rica and head of the Public Prosecutor’s Office during the reading of the sentence for the femicide of María Tacsan, generated surprise among those present at the trial and also provoked criticsm from the defense lawyer, José Miguel Villalobos.
The Attorney General assured that his presence will be greater to accompany the prosecutors in some trials and also in raids by the judicial police (OIJ).
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