La Plata concluded yesterday one of the most impactful trials of the last decade. The Oral Criminal Court No. 1 sentenced Gerardo Tomás Ponce, former basketball coach of the Juventud and Sudamérica clubs, to 26 years in prison for committing several serious sexual abuses against minors in his care between 2005 and 2010. The verdict was read by TOC 1, composed of judges Hernán Decastelli, Cecilia Sanucci and Emir Alfredo Caputo Tártara, to loud applause from the victims – now adults – who were present in the room with their families.
The court found it proven that Ponce used his role as an educator and the trust placed in him by the parents to approach the children, manipulate them and perpetrate a sustained pattern of abuse. The incidents occurred at training sessions, sports outings and private residences and included touching, display of pornography, oral sex and other repeated sexual assaults. The two victims whose cases came to court were assisted by lawyers Alfredo Gascón and Miguel Molina, while the prosecution was led by trial lawyer Jorge Paolini.
The trial began on October 28 and lasted intensive days full of witness statements, reports and rough descriptions of situations that the victims kept secret for years. One of the most relevant technical elements was the testimony of a computer expert who showed that anonymous messages with sexual content sent to a minor in 2008 came from the IP of Ponce’s home, years before grooming was criminalized. The defendant, for his part, refrained from making a statement and did not undergo any psychological or psychiatric examination.
In the allegations, Paolini demanded 21 years in prison because the attacks against the two complainants were proven. He described the defendant as “a lone fighter who created the conditions for the abuses to be committed.” Molina and Gascón called for the highest sentence in the debate: 50 years. They claimed they were “systematic and planned” events and defined Ponce as “a predator who betrayed his role as an educator.” They also pointed out that the young people who testified were “just an example of the harm caused.”
The defense led by Gastón Nicocia demanded acquittal. He argued that “you cannot condemn what did not exist” and questioned the assessment of the evidence. He even presented photos of the defendants sharing their activities with minors years later and attempted to discredit the stories.
Finally, TOC 1 considered the accusation proven and imposed one of the harshest sentences in recent years in the criminal justice system of La Plata for crimes against the sexual integrity of minors. Ponce, who has been incarcerated since 2021, will remain in prison while his defense considers possible appeals.
The reading of the verdict triggered a scene full of emotions: tears, hugs and a feeling of relief that had been withheld for years. At the exit, lawyer Javier Fernández – representative of one of the victims – told EL DIA: “The truth is, we are very satisfied. The court has given a devastating verdict that corresponds to the acts committed by this person. Justice has been done. It does not repair the damage, but it closes a period in the lives of these young people who were still children when everything happened.”
With this sentence, a lawsuit concludes that not only the severity of the abuse, but also the ability of a trainer to infiltrate his attacks into training and support areas was exposed.
For the complainants, the conviction does not erase the trauma, but rather marks a before and after of a more than ten-year search for justice.
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