Villa, Boca striker, is convicted of assaulting ex-wife – 02/06/2023 – Sport

Colombian attacking midfielder Sebastián Villa, 27, from Boca Juniors (ARG), was sentenced this Friday (2) to two years and one month in prison for gender violence. Despite this, he will be on parole, without actually going to jail.

He was sentenced for having attacked his ex-wife, the also Colombian Daniela Cortés.

The court on the outskirts of Buenos Aires ruled that Villa was guilty of “coercive threats and minor injuries with gender violence”.

The decision comes a day before the eighth anniversary of the NiUnaMenos mobilization against feminicides in Argentina. Last year, 252 women were killed in the country, against 251 in 2021, according to data from the National Register of Feminicides of Justice.

Despite the accusations, Villa had been playing normally for Boca Juniors in the Argentine Championship and in the Copa Libertadores. Juan Román Riquelme, idol of the club and strongman of the current football management, even said that the Colombian is the best player in football activity in Argentina.

Before the sentence, the board had said that it could apply sanctions to Villa, such as removing him from the professional squad. He entered the field last Thursday (1st), in Boca’s defeat against Arsenal de Sarandi, in the national league. Before the match, both teams showed a flag with the slogan NiUnaMenos.

The club had not taken any action with the allegation that Justice had not ruled on the case.

The complaint was filed by Daniela on April 27, 2020. This Friday, the court also ruled that Villa must maintain “rules of conduct, not maintain any contact with the victim, not use drugs or abuse alcoholic beverages, undergo psychological treatment and lectures on gender violence”.

During the trial, the player maintained that he is innocent. He claimed that his ex-wife actually assaulted him.

Daniela claimed to have received repeated mistreatment between 2018 and 2020. She testified via video because she lives in Medellín, Colombia. She stated that Villa began to drink heavily and became increasingly violent. Everything would have gotten worse, according to her, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they had to spend more time together at home.