Man allegedly kills son in self-defence

A young man was shot to death by his father in Mar del Tuyú, who was later released after turning himself in and claiming that he killed him in legitimate defence. 

Judicial sources informed that 57-year-old Roberto Iturreta’s lawyers will hope the prosecutor will change the accusation against their client from “murder” to “legitimate defence,” since his 30-year-old son Martín “tried to stab him with a knife.”

Judge Laura Elías, however, rejected his plea to be released on bail, for which there is now an arrest warrant in suspense since Iturreta’s lawyer, Javier Humberto Aversa, has appealed the ruling, which is now being revised by the Dolores’ Court of Appeals. 

Police sources indicated that the incident took place last Sunday around 7 am, in the city of Mar del Tuyú, in the Buenos Aires province, where the young man violently broke into his parents’ house brandishing a knife.

According to his father’s statement, Martín smashed several objects in the home and then jumped at him, trying to stab him. 

His father asked his son to calm down, but as the young man didn’t back down, Iturreta grabbed a Magnun 357 handgun that he owned and fired at him several times. Three of the bullets hit him in the chest of his son.

The young man died almost instantly, while the man drove away towards Santa Teresita in his vehicle, where he finally turned himself in at the local station. 

Iturrieta’s lawyer said his son was “usually aggressive without any logical explanation” and that he “mixed alcohol with antidepressants.”

He also said that Martín had been in rehab several times due to his addiction to drugs. He checked himself out last December because his father had gotten him a job.