Panamanian judge issues arrest warrant for femicide suspect

The judge also rejected the request of the accused's lawyer, who suggested applying other measures such as house arrest, which he would serve at his grandparents' house in the Bocas del Toro province, and a travel ban. Due to this, Judge Xavier Flórez ordered the provisional detention of Marvin Serrano, in addition to charging him with the crime of intentional femicide. Investigations carried out by the Homicide and Femicide Prosecutor's Office also indicate that the day before the tragedy, the couple had had a heated argument, which, according to relatives, was common between both. On February 19, the paramedics of the Unified Emergency Management System (SUME) who went to Rosmery's house found her body face down on the bed. In this hearing, the prosecutor for Homicide and Femicide, Franklin López, contradicted the initial version of Marvin Serrano before the Public Ministry (MP), in which he said that Rosmery died in the early morning of February 19 after arriving home from drinking. For this, the judge considered the risk that the accused could neglect the process by moving to another province. The couple lived in an annex that he had built next to the grandparents' house, with three minors under three, six, and seven years old, all of them being Rosmery's only children. The multiple requests hearing against Marvin Arcenio Serrano, 33, as the material author of the femicide of his cousin and partner Rosmery Serrano, 24, revealed a marital relationship characterized by frequent arguments. The Prosecutor's Office's argument was based on the necropsy report of the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (IMELCF), which specifies mechanical asphyxiation by cervical compression as the cause of death of Rosmery. Said report also indicates the existence of ecchymotic lesions (hematomas) in the parietal and frontal regions of the skull.