The León Court has resumed today the trial against the former mayor of Ponferrada, Pedro Muñoz, accused of leaving his ex-wife, Raquel Díaz, prostrate in a wheelchair, after allegedly throwing her off a balcony.
After Raquel's heartbreaking story heard on Monday, this morning it was the turn of people close to this woman. These witnesses have corroborated the hell of mistreatment revealed in this trial by Raquel during the five years that her marriage lasted.
The hearing has started on time. Pedro Muñoz, on provisional release, has arrived at the courtroom on his own and what he heard at the beginning of the second session does not seem to have pleased him. The president of the courtroom has called his attention to some gesture of the accused, in response to what the witnesses narrated.
The first to testify was Raquel's brother. He has done it by videoconference from Mondoñedo (Lugo). Enrique José Díaz has revealed that the hell suffered by his sister due to this toxic relationship comes from very far away. “Before the wedding, she already told me that he mistreated her and that she was afraid of him,” said the man. He also told her that Pedro "grabbed her by the neck and had to hide it with makeup... she knew how to do it so as not to leave a mark."
Then it was the turn of another of Raquel's sisters. He has confirmed that in 2017 (the events occurred in 2020) he already witnessed an episode of abuse. He was in the house of Pedro and his sister and heard how the man “dragged Raquel down the stairs… it was him who was shouting; “She was just complaining.”
This witness was asked if she was aware that her sister had a drinking problem. In Monday's session, Pedro made an effort to relate his ex-wife's account of the day of the alleged attack to a large intake of beers. Raquel's sister has denied it.
Several of Raquel's friends have also passed through the hearing room of the León Court throughout the morning. One of them has revealed that the woman told her that Pedro kept telling her that if she ever reported him “he would bring her down.” Raquel also told him - proof of how toxic her relationship was - that “with Pedro she was in heaven or hell.”
The control that the accused exercised over Raquel at that time was “total,” the witnesses agree. The woman, a lawyer who collaborated with her husband in her work as a councillor, came to suspect that she had tapped the phone. “She didn't want to report him, she just wanted to leave him,” said another friend of the victim.
Version corroborated by another of the woman's companions: "I was afraid, it was a relationship of comings and goings. I know that the possibility of going to live in another city was even considered." Another friend agreed with her statement: "I was afraid of his power, I don't know why she always came back to him."
This witness has also denied that Raquel had - at least as far as she knew - problems with drinking. And when questioned by the defense lawyer, she has acknowledged that she never observed bruises or signs of blows on her friend's body.
