A FELLOW inmate of the only suspect in the disappearance of seven-year-old Yéremi Vargas a decade ago claims the accused described the child's death to him in detail.
Yéremi, who vanished whilst out playing near his home in the village of Vecindario, Gran Canaria in 2007 remains officially on the 'missing list', since a body has never been found and it has never been confirmed that he is no longer alive.
But sightings of a white van near where he disappeared, and later seen near where another little boy was sexually assaulted led to the arrest of Antonio Ojeda last year.
He was in prison at the time for the attack on the second boy, who survived.
It has just been reported that another man in jail with Ojeda, known as 'El Rubio', heard first-hand that Yéremi had been murdered.
Ojeda, however, maintained it was not he who killed the missing boy.
The anonymous inmate said he had asked 'El Rubio' outright about whether he had had anything to do with Yéremi's disappearance, and says Ojeda replied, “the little boy didn't suffer, he was already dead when he got there.”
'El Rubio' said another man killed Yéremi, and named this person by his nickname.
But the man accused by Ojeda has not been charged, and has denied any involvement in the child's going missing.
Ojeda said he had seen Yéremi's body and described how the man he pointed the finger at had burnt the child's remains on a mattress to dispose of the evidence.
The Vargas family solicitor said the prisoner, who had shared a cell with Ojeda in Algeciras (Cádiz province), had repeated and sworn to his statement via video conference, and that the private prosecution believes him.
“In our view, it seems credible enough,” says the lawyer.
“We believe he is not lying and that, in fact, it confirms Antonio told him things he knew about the little boy's disappearance.”
Whilst the inmate says 'El Rubio' claims not to have murdered Yéremi, details of parts of the south of Gran Canaria – which it is unlikely the anonymous fellow prisoner would have visited – tie up with the true layout of the area.
Yéremi's family is waiting for the judge to either approve or refuse their request for a face-to-face declaration between Ojeda and another, more recent cellmate from the Juan Grande prison in Gran Canaria.
This second inmate said a few weeks ago that on the day Ojeda had been sentenced for the assault on the other little boy, 'El Rubio' talked about Yéremi Vargas.
He is alleged to have given details about the seven-year-old's death and said that he 'had to make him disappear'.
This coming Monday, the judge is scheduled to interrogate some of Yéremi's family members, but it is not thought further statements will be taken unless either the prosecution or the defence puts forward new material.
“We cannot let ourselves become pessimistic – we have to keep going until the end of the trial and hope that there's some chance of clarifying the circumstances surrounding the child's having gone missing,” concluded the family solicitor.
