Global Courant 2023-05-17 14:00:50
Hernán Rodrigo (56) is a caged lion. He tosses between caring for his sick father and seeking the truth about what he went through with his brother. He will repeat, over and over again, that “if he had been the other way around, Melchor would not have stopped until he knew the truth.”
Melchor Rodrigo, a prestigious neurologist, was 43 years old and on May 16, 2022, he went to dinner at Felipe Pettinato’s apartment, on a 22nd floor. He was his doctor, but also his friend.
“He was the best friend I had at that time,” said Tamara Pettinato, Felipe’s sister (30). The victim’s family denies that this link existed, but they do acknowledge a doctor-patient relationship that had been going on for “several years.”
Neurologist Melchor Rodrigo (43) was born in Alexandria, United States, in 1978.
From that apartment in Belgrano, at 2300 Aguilar Street, the neurologist did not come out alive. A fire consumed the living room and kitchen. The fire killed Melchor. Felipe Pettinato managed to escape. After being treated by SAME, he was transferred to the Zabala Clinic.
Since then, the son of the former Sumo saxophonist has been in rehabilitation for his addictions. He is now in the final stretch of his treatment at the EIRA Foundation.
“We have been a respectful family of the times of Justice. We decided to wait for all the steps that have been indicated to us, but a year later we still have no answer. What are you waiting for?” says Hernán, Melchor’s brother, the only one who has decided to speak publicly after the tragedy.
The burned apartment of Felipe Pettinato inside.
This Wednesday, on the first anniversary of the death of the neurologist, the family will hold a mass at the Cathedral of San Isidro to honor him. “My dad won’t be able to go,” laments Hernán with a broken voice.
Tomás Melchor Rodrigo is 95 years old and his state of health is delicate. After the death of his son, he had a series of medical complications that rapidly deteriorated his condition.
“I wanted my parents to be able to see justice. I don’t know if that’s going to happen anymore,” laments Hernán. And he gets angry: “I want to see the prosecutor do his job. To summon him immediately for an investigation. If they allow him to go to Pinamar, he can go to testify. Do you know the pain it is for us to think that he is going to be discharged to live his life normally? What about us? He didn’t kill a single person here, it’s a destroyed family.”
The building where Felipe Pettinato was with the neurologist Melchor Rodrigo, on the 22nd floor. Photo Lucia Merle.
The cause
The investigation is in the hands of the Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor No. 25, in charge of Martín Mainardi. Felipe Pettinato was never called to investigate, he is not even charged for what happened in the fire.
The cover is still “investigation of causes of death.”
For the family, the fire was not an accident: “Here we have a person sprayed with an accelerator liquid and dead. And another who is alive. This was not an accident, my brother was killed. We want to see this person imprisoned, nothing else. Let him pay for what he did as anyone in his situation would pay,” Hernán sentenced in a dialogue with Clarín.
The traces of the fire in the upper part of the building. Photo Lucia Merle.
The autopsy determined that there was “an accelerating liquid” in Melchor’s legs. He was told about benzine, the fluid used for lighters. Also fuel. The court did not issue any official ruling to clarify whether it was an intentional fire or a tragic accident.
According to one of the expert reports, the remains of this substance were found in the victim’s bones. Hernán is revealed by that scene. The pain, the suffering and until “they haven’t tried to get it out, ask for help”.
Sources with access to the file told Clarín that they are currently carrying out “complementary expert opinions requested by the complaint” on “remains found in the apartment after the fire.”
Hernán Rodrigo, brother of Melchor, the victim of the fire in the Pettinato department. Photo Guillermo Rodriguez Adami.
In addition, they explained that, once this instance was concluded, they would be in a position to “rule”.
“Pettinato has a defense attorney in the case and no accusation has yet been formalized. He has not been called for an investigation, for example, and this has to do with the fact that the idea was always to complete the investigation before defining what would be charged against him. At the moment, it does not have any restrictions that have to do with this cause,” they clarified.
The treatment
Felipe spent the first month in a mental health institution stabilizing his psychiatric pathology. He was later transferred to Tortuguitas, where he continues to be treated at the EIRA Foundation.
In February, he had been “rewarded” with a weekend trip to Pinamar accompanied by his therapists. He transcended after the vehicle was stopped in a speeding control. Pettinato was not driving, he was co-pilot.
Shortly after one year after the fire, he would also be close to being discharged. Although it is not clear, if she will start going out on the weekends or if she will be able to return home with her family.
“My mom sent me this photo of my birthday with my brother (Homero Pettinato) and nephew to remind me how grateful I should be today, one year later,” Felipe wrote in a photo shared by his sister on her 30th birthday.
Tamara Pettinato’s post on her Instagram account for her brother Felipe’s birthday.
And he continued: “Drugs had taken over my life, I couldn’t live with or without them… It was very sad how I decided at the last moment to turn on the phone and agree to join my family, after having slept for three days and with a new megadose in between”.
It is not the first time that Felipe Pettinato is undergoing treatment for his mental health pathology and against addictions. He had several previous hospitalizations and his family questioned the Mental Health Law: “It could have been avoided if the law were otherwise,” Tamara warned after the fire.
This weekend, the EIRA Foundation shared a series of activities carried out to celebrate “40 hospitalization discharges” in an event they call “Extreme Recovery Stove”. The presence of the former Sumo saxophonist, Roberto Pettinato, and his daughter Tamara, once again circulated the rumor of the medical discharge.
The post of Felipe Pettinato (30) for his recent birthday, which his sister Tamara shared on Instagram.
Before consulting this newspaper, the sources confirmed that the discharge is “a fact”, although “it is not clear from when or how it will be implemented.”
The cause of abuse
While the situation of Felipe Pettinato is defined in the file of the fire, a trial is pending for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old adolescent committed in 2018.
The Court of Guarantees No. 1 of San Isidro resolved to take the case to trial. His defense appealed to the Appeals Chamber and the Cassation Chamber, but both rejected the appeal.
For this stage, the Pettinato family changed lawyers due to discrepancies in the defensive strategy.
Tamara, Feilpe’s sister.
The victim was 14 years old. She is a relative of the then partner of Felipe Pettinato, with whom they have a daughter in common. The young woman reported the incident nine months after it occurred, on March 8, 2018 at 2 in the morning.
“Taking advantage of the night, of the solitude in which my daughter found herself and of her sexual immaturity, it allows her to perpetrate her abusive behavior, thus guaranteeing the silence of the victim, who was left absolutely paralyzed,” says the statement of the mother of the young woman identified with the letter M.
The defense strategy seems to be buying time and going back on the blamelessness. It is that during the investigation, Pettinato underwent a psychological expertise and another psychiatric one that concluded that he was fit to be tried for that crime.
Father and son.
But, once the elevation to trial is appealed, they can incorporate new elements and also question the expertise even during the trial.
These reports were requested by the prosecutor Mainardi to take them into account in the framework of the investigation into the fire, even though they were given four years apart from one event to another.
In the case of abuse, which after resolving the appeal in Cassation is ready to be drawn before a court and set a trial date, Melchor Rodrigo testified as a witness. He made reference to the patient’s mental health and the link with the victim’s family.
EMJ
