Photo: LUKA GONZALES/AFP/Getty Images
She had decided to leave him, and he reacted by dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire in a central square in Lima.. After six days in the hospital, Katherine Gómez died this Friday from severe burns.
The death of the 18-year-old girl has shocked Peru for her cruelty and for the controversial reaction of the Police, that, despite the fact that the attack took place on Saturday, March 18, it took several days to issue an arrest warrant against the alleged attacker, identified as Sergio Tarache Parra, whose whereabouts are unknown.
The case shocked the country, which followed the news on the young woman’s state of health during the week, and has once again highlighted the problem of violence against women. Hours after hearing the news, the country’s president, Dina Boluarte, said: “This violence against women must stop. Women are not property of couples”.
The Minister for Women, Nancy Tolentino, had some unfortunate statements regarding the announcement she made of the death of Katherine Gómez, a young woman who was burned alive by her ex-partner, Sergio Tarache Parra, near Plaza Dos de Mayo. pic.twitter.com/cs4GZYZ3pg
– Alternative Press (@PrensaAlterna) March 25, 2023
The Interior Ministry is now offering a reward of about $13,000 for the capture of 19-year-old Tarache Parra.
What happened
The young woman was on the night of Saturday, March 18, in a street near Plaza del Dos de Mayo, in the center of Lima, when a man approached her and, after dousing her with gasoline, set it on fire and fled.
According to the police account of the events, it is Sergio Tarache Parra, with whom Gómez had a sentimental relationship, which the young woman had recently decided to put an end to.
The pedestrians who were in the area helped the victim and put out the flames, but not in time to prevent him from suffering burns on 60% of his body.
🚨 They watch over a young victim of femicide, Katherine Gómez. #LatinaNoticias pic.twitter.com/TqAVJGhoC2
– Latina News (@Latina_Noticias) March 25, 2023
The victim was transferred to the Arzobispo Loayza hospital in the Peruvian capitalwhere this Friday he finally passed away.
“She fought for her life, but unfortunately, the amount of damaged body made it impossible for the doctors to save her life,” confirmed the Peruvian Minister for Women and Vulnerable Populations, Nancy Tolentino.
Despite the fact that the attack against the young woman occurred on the night of Saturday, March 18, it was not until Thursday night that an arrest warrant was issued for the alleged car.r, a delay that may have facilitated his escape and even his departure from Peruvian territory.
Only after the news of his death broke did the authorities issue an international arrest warrant and offered a reward of 50,000 soles.
Questioned by local journalists about the slowness of the official response, Minister Tolentino said: “The Police have promised me that they will do everything possible to find him.”
The Head of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Police, General Óscar Arriola, said that the offer of a reward “is a very useful tool that has given results at other times and in many cases that have occurred in the history of Peruvian crime.” , but there is no evidence that the authorities have any indication of the whereabouts of the claimed Tarache Parra.
In addition to the late reaction, it also raised criticism that when referring to the case of Katherine Gómez, Minister Tolentino said: “We would like young people to choose well who to be with because they must be aware that they deserve to live free of violence and that they do not accept any compromise or a relationship with a person who does not respect them”.
For the feminist collective Manuela Ramos, those words “revictimize her family.”
The Ombudsman’s Office condemned “any way of blaming and holding the victims accountable” and demanded from the authorities “a real will and budget to guarantee adequate care services.”
Peru registered 136 femicides in 2022 and a high percentage of them remained unresolved. Women’s organizations frequently denounce that they are harassed by their ex-partners when they attend appointments to which they are called under deceit to receive payment of the alimony owed to them for their children in common.
The Peruvian Congress approved last year a battery of laws that was described by Natalia González, a researcher at the Institute of Peruvian Studies, as “an avalanche of regulations that respond to an ultra-conservative agenda that pushes back equality.”
Among other measures, the joint custody of minors was imposed in cases of separation in which there is no judicial resolution, which, according to the detractors of the norm, opens the door for men denounced or convicted of domestic violence to maintain their control over the nuclear family even when the women have resolved to break their relationship.
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