The tragedy that marked a turning point in the social and artistic life of the Dominican Republic, the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub, returns this Friday to the National District courts. The owners of the establishment, Antonio and Maribel Espaillat, face a new judicial session starting at 9:00 in the morning, in a process that seeks to clarify legal responsibilities following the collapse that left a toll of 236 dead and numerous injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the preliminary hearings, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has presented compelling evidence suggesting that the owners of the premises had prior knowledge of the building’s vulnerabilities. Lawyer Luis Custodio, part of the legal representation, highlighted that there are elements pointing to negligence in the face of the building’s evident deterioration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe evidence points to the fact that the owners were aware of the difficulties the property presented, including leaks and the deterioration of the ceilings, situations that were ignored by those who managed the establishment.<\/p>\nLuis Custodio, plaintiff attorney<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Among the most revealing findings is a message sent by Maribel Espaillat to her brother, where she described the state of the nightclub as “all falling apart,” a condition that, according to experts, persisted even without the influence of external factors such as rain or the use of air conditioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Technical causes of the collapse<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The collapse, which occurred in the early hours of April 8, 2025, during a performance by merengue artist Rubby P\u00e9rez, was analyzed by experts in the field. The experts agreed that structural overload was the determining factor of the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
- Progressive installation of fine layers and water deposits on the roof.<\/li>\n
- Additional load due to the placement of sheds and air conditioning equipment.<\/li>\n
- Excessive weight derived from sound and lighting devices installed over the years.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
This fateful event not only claimed the lives of the performer Rubby P\u00e9rez and a member of his orchestra, but also brought mourning to various public figures and personalities, including former Major League Baseball player Octavio Dotel, designer Mart\u00edn Polanco, and a son of the Minister of Public Works, Eduardo Estrella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Demands for justice from family members<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
As the process moves forward in the Court of First Instance, the victims’ families maintain a firm stance regarding the legal classification of the case. There is a widespread demand for the charges against the owners to be elevated to voluntary manslaughter, rejecting the charge of involuntary manslaughter currently contemplated in the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alofoke Deportes will continue to follow this judicial process to report on any decision that emanates from the courts regarding this case that continues to shock Dominican society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jet Set Case: Judicial process against the owners continues The tragedy that marked a turning point in the social and artistic life of the Dominican Republic, the collapse of the Jet Set nightclub, returns this Friday to the National District courts. The owners of the establishment, Antonio and Maribel Espaillat, face a new judicial session […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":164892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12809],"tags":[2188,1650,15588,1320],"class_list":{"0":"post-164891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"tag-collapse","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-jet-set-case","11":"tag-tragedy"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}