The director of Home Santa Rita, Thomas Villarentered to testify this Friday, March 11 at 10:14 a.m. in the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 2 of Puerto de la Cruz aboard a red Mercedes and through the garage door, which allowed him to elude the four media outlets waiting for his arrival on the street, where there weren’t even any onlookers. Villar, who was simply cited as being investigated, was able to benefit from an unusual route of access to the court. An entrance by car and through the garage that they have not used when summoned to testify or the one who was president of the Government of the Canary Islands Fernando Clavijo; nor the former son-in-law of the King of Spain Inaki Urdangarinnor more recently the bishop of Tenerife, Bernardo Alvarez.
As reported this Friday by the Communications Office of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), the investigating magistrate of the criminal investigation proceedings for the alleged irregularities in the management of the Home Santa Ritadenounced by the Prosecutor’s Office, «has authorized the entrance of the investigated by an unusual route after verifying the dissemination this Thursday, March 10, of a news item reporting the date and time of his statement takingwith your name and surnames, contrary to what is established by the Data Protection Act and in a stage of the procedure that is not publicalso in reference to a person who is not either ».
The TSJC warns that “the communication protocol of the General Council of the Judiciary it only facilitates the taking of images of the people under investigation when the process reaches the trial phaseat the time of the plenary, in the room and not in the corridors».
The judicial authority also issued an order in which Ser (Radio Club Tenerife) is directly accused of “promoting a parallel trial” for reporting the summons of Thomas Villardespite the fact that the controversy over the health intervention and the alleged irregularities in the Home Santa Rita They have been occupying space in the regional and national media for months, as it is the largest residence for the elderly in the Canary Islands, with 427 employees and more than 500 elderly and dependent dependents.
The judicial process, still in the phase of preliminary proceedings, which affects the Santa Rita Home has its origin in a devastating report issued by staff of the University Hospital of Our Lady of Candelaria (Hunsc) at the end of 2020, which spoke of outbreaks of scabies and cases of malnutrition and dehydration. This health report led to the complaint of the prosecution which was admitted for processing by the court on November 17, 2021. This investigation must now clarify whether crimes of abuse or even reckless homicide have been committed, due to the twenty deaths from the Covid-19 outbreaks in this center founded in 1981 by father Anthony.
The president of the Fundación Canaria Hogar Santa Rita, Roque Silvapassed on the morning of this Friday, March 11, near the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Puerto de la Cruz and when requested by the media, he refused to give his version and charged the informants: “We don’t want to know anything about the press, they have mistreated us a lot”.
Providence against information
The judge in charge of the criminal investigation proceedings for the Santa Rita case issued an order last Thursday, March 10, in which he urges the media to “channel any request for information on this matter through the Court’s Communication Office Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands”. In that order, he considers that Cadena Ser published “sensitive information that lacks any public interest, hinders the proper development of the process and promotes a parallel trial.” And he adds that this information “has only been transmitted by the parties in person.” In particular, the judge censured that the Ser reported that the director of Santa Rita had been summoned to testify this Friday.
