Eduard Gaitan likely to plead guilty, his defense attorney will ask for minimum sentence

Tu Nueva Radio YA spoke on Sunday with Ricardo Flores González, Master of Law, the defense lawyer of Edward Gaitán Gallegos, who is being prosecuted for aggravated parricide, for depriving his 7-year-old brother of his life on August 18 in the state of Catarina, Masaya.

The defense attorney noted that this Monday he will visit Edward Gaitán at the La Modelo prison system in Tipitapa, where he will explain the peculiarities of the entire process and the benefits of a guilty plea.

“This was planned … I explained this to his relatives,” said the defense attorney, who will request that the case’s classification be changed from aggravated patricide to simple patricide.

“If my client acknowledges his freedom and spontaneity and the judge in charge of the case agrees to change the crime to simple patricide, I would ask for a minimum of 10 years in prison,” explained Ricardo Flores, Master of Laws.

However, the defender assured that it would be necessary to see if the Public Ministry and the relatives of the victims do not appeal the request.

According to the defense lawyer, the penalty for aggravated patricide includes 20 to 30 years’ imprisonment, while the penalty for simple patricide is 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment.

Edward and his mother have a close relationship

Ana Gisela Gallegos, the mother of Eduard Gaitán Gallegos, was criticized recently for a photo that circulated on social networks, as she was allegedly not close to the accused before the incident.

However, attorney Ricardo Flores explained that she was the one who hired him to defend Edward and that, from his understanding, they had fluid communication before the incident.

“Edward was studying engineering and he came to his mother’s relatives’ house and they loaned him a computer and he used the internet to do his college assignments,” Flores said.

Tu Nueva Radio YA learned that Ms. Ana Gallegos and Mr. Hollman Gaitán had been separated for 12 years and that since then the defendant had lived with his father in the house that his grandmother had inherited from them, in the Mario Latino neighborhood in Catarina.

He played basketball and had a relationship

Edward Gaitán’s acquaintances in Catarina state said the young man’s favorite sport was basketball, which he played for several years. In 2022, he had a relationship with a young woman and lived with her in her father’s house for several months.

Locals say that in the house, which also served as a lube shop, Don Hollman Gaitán played the role of both father and mother to Edward and a daughter named Martha, who was the first to leave the property due to alleged problems with the mother of the deceased child.

The unofficial version of the rumors among residents of Catalina detailed that, in addition to Edward’s alleged jealousy of his 7-year-old brother, they believed that the defendant really wanted to end the relationship between his father, Holman Gaitan, and Mrs. Martha Medina, the victim’s mother.

Shocking story

The Public Ministry stated in the complaint that last Sunday, August 18, Edward Gaitán, who had premeditated the crime, took advantage of his parents’ distraction and called his 7-year-old brother to his room.

He was then hit on the head with a 14cm stone placed in the room and strangled to death when he was seen fainting.

He then covered his brother’s head with a red T-shirt, put the body in a black bag and placed it under the bed.

On the morning of Monday, August 19, police investigating the case discovered the victim’s small body.

A special hearing in the case will be held on Tuesday, September 3 at the Masaya Court, and you can find out more details on Tu Nueva Radio YA.