Maradona death trial: ex-partner accuses caregivers of providing alcohol despite drinking problem

Tuesday saw another hearing in the trial over the death of Argentine football star Diego Maradona, with two key witnesses: the player’s former partner Verónica Ojeda and his sister Rita. Ojeda, who was Maradona’s partner between 2005 and 2014, is the mother of his youngest child, Diego Fernando. She spoke about the poor state of the former star in the days leading up to his death, claiming his caregivers “gave him alcohol.” Among those she accused of failing to administer proper medical care to Maradona are two of the nurses who cared for him daily and the coordinator who oversaw them. Dahiana Madrid, one of those nurses, will undergo a separate process of trial by jury. You may also be interested in: The trial over the death of Diego Maradona starts again. Here’s all you need to know Ojeda stated she “lost touch” with Maradona after the breakup but reconnected when their son was diagnosed with autism at age 3. However, the connection was “not always fluid and mostly sporadic.” According to her, she saw Maradona again during the COVID-19 pandemic. “A masseuse of his, whom I didn’t know, called me and warned me he was in a bad state and  ‘I was the only one who could save him,’” she testified.  It was through this woman that she got Maradona’s latest contact, and the two arranged a meeting. “Diego wasn’t well at his home in La Plata,” Ojeda said. “He was drinking a lot of alcohol. They gave him beers and wine. “I couldn’t be there with my son; it wasn’t the right environment for him, and he couldn’t see his father in that state.” Ojeda said she “trusted [Maradona’s main medical advisor] Leopoldo Luque” and agreed with “everything he said.” “I don’t know anything about medicine. I’m just a mom who was doing everything she could so that Dieguito could be with his dad,” she said. Ojeda and her lawyer later asked to play a recording she had found of the meeting where Maradona’s home care was determined at the hearing.  Despite protests from the defense, the court allowed the audio. They argued that while “it isn’t new proof,” it was “pertinent to the case.” The hearing, however, was lifted shortly after due to technical problems Maradona’s sister: ‘his daughters said they would take care of it’ Rita Maradona, one of Maradona’s three older sisters, was the hearing’s first witness. Rita said that she went to see her brother after he had surgery to remove a subdural hematoma on November 2. She later took part in a meeting to decide the next steps. “I remember we talked about which doctors would be involved and what the home care would entail. They were going to ask for an ambulance and a physician who would be on-site at the house at all times,” she said. Rita added that the last time she saw her brother was the day he was discharged from the clinic where he’d had surgery and insisted he “looked fine.” “He was recovering from surgery, but he was fine,” she said. She later added that she only found out about his passing through a journalist who called her to corroborate the rumors. Rita clarified that didn’t participate in the decision-making process because Maradona’s daughters said that “they’d take care of it because they were adults.” The hearing also heard testimony from Scientific Police Chief Gerardo Vergara, who visited the house on the day of the passing and oversaw the forensic work. Maradona died from an acute pulmonary edema in 2020. The trial centers around the circumstances of his death and the attention he received from his doctors and nurses.  Eight people stand accused of failing to administer proper medical care to Maradona, chiefly Luque as his main medical advisor, as well as his psychiatrist, Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist, Carlos Díaz. This will be the second time the proceeding goes ahead, after the first court case was declared a mistrial in May 2025.