The woman who reported footballer Junior Benítez for gender violence committed suicide: the family says she “couldn’t stand being harassed”

The tragic outcome of Anabelia Ayala In the early hours of 2024, the lack of support for victims of gender-based violence once again emerges. The woman was found dead last Monday in his home in the Almirante Brown neighborhood by his mother and brother, and The family immediately targeted footballer Oscar Junior Benítezformer Boca and Lanús -among other clubs-, who continued despite house arrest “harassing her” for filing a police report.

This has been confirmed Clarion Belén Aldana García, Ayala’s cousinwho also revealed that Junior Benítez himself had violated the restriction he had against Anabelia and her family since last February, when he brutally beat and threatened the victim’s father. “On December 30th he showed up in his black Hilux truck and approached the house”He said.

“She endured an ordeal for five years, she couldn’t cope, she was exhausted. They communicated via an app, on a video call, because if she didn’t answer him he would threaten her at home.”Belén García summarized what has happened since the couple settled in Mexico in 2018, because the footballer had signed a contract with Atletico San Luis.

“He beat her, he also bit her face, he hit her with pine cones in the ribs. A week before the event she had had breathing problems, we don’t know if he had hit her again”concluded Belén García, in dialogue with Clarion.

There were several events that led to the arrest of Junior Benítez last May. The first occurred at the beginning of 2021 when the ex-partner’s father and mother found the player in her daughter’s room with a firearm that he had placed on the bedside table, while he broke several of her things. It was that weapon that he used to threaten Juan Carlos Ayala.

Then, at the beginning of 2022, the complaint from the woman’s father, mother and brother was because Benítez punctured the tires of a family truck in front of the door of his house, where in addition to the gun he also had a knife.

This is why the Lomas de Zamora judge Gabriel Vitale accepted the request of the public prosecutor José Luis Suárez to arrest the footballer, who was found in his home in Esteban Echeverría, where he was 9mm pistol3 magazines and 39 rounds of ammunition. The port had expired.

According to a victimological report presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, the young woman “presents typical indicators of victims of gender violence as well as the fact that they have been exposed to continuing to suffer events of these characteristics because they are immersed in a circle of violence”.

Benítez was detained for five days and given a 300 meter restraining order against Anabelia and her family. “He was under house arrest and despite this he went to my cousin’s house to check on her so that she wasn’t with anyone”Belén closed, in a post on Facebook in which she fired her cousin Anabelia.