CELEBRITY
Nursing coordinator denies responsibility in Maradona death
The coordinator in charge of the nurses that treated Diego Maradona at his home denied any involvement in the football icon’s death when interviewed by Argentine prosecutors on Friday (June 18).
Mariano Perroni, 40, is the third of seven people under investigation for manslaughter to testify in the case that has gripped the country.
The 1986 World Cup-winning captain died of a heaart attack last November at the age of 60, just weeks after undergoing brain surgery for a blood clot.
“Perroni was never in the house, he doesn’t know Maradona, he was never in contact with him,” the coordinator’s lawyer Miguel Angel Pierri told reporters outside the public prosecutor’s office in San Isidro, on the outskirts of the capital Buenos Aires.
Prosecutors opened an investigation after a board of experts looking into Maradona’s death found he had received inadequate care and was abandoned to his fate for a “prolonged, agonising period”.
“He was a sort of personnel coordinator, his job was to assemble the team of nurses to ensure they entered (the house) and completed their shifts,” said Pierri of Perroni’s role.
“The treating doctors gave the medical directives.”
Perroni’s interview comes two days after a lawyer for one of the nurses that attended to Maradona told reporters that doctors “killed Diego” through their negligence.
Nurses Dahiana Gisela Madrid, 36, and Ricardo Almiron, 37 – two of the last people to see Maradona alive – said this week they were following the orders of his treating doctors.
They both admit to having failed to perform routine checks on Maradona just before he died.
‘Disinterested and indifferent’
Prosecutors say Perroni had “full knowledge of what was done and what was not done, particularly in terms of the management of nurses for the patient.”
They also accuse him of having demonstrated “disinterested and indifferent behaviour given the urgent situation.”
Perroni’s defence is that his role was merely administrative and involved collecting the nurses’ reports and worksheets filled out when they changed shifts.
He claims to have passed on these documents to Nancy Forlini, 52, Maradona’s home medical coordinator who is also under investigation and will be interviewed on Monday.
Both Almiron and Madrid told prosecutors earlier this week that the house rented for Maradona did not contain the equipment necessary to treat a patient suffering from heart disease.
Both said they had not been told he suffered from heart disease and had been instructed not to disturb him while he rested.
Maradona had battled cocaine and alcohol addictions. The former Boca Juniors, Barcelona and Napoli star was suffering from liver, kidney and cardiovascular disorders when he died.
Psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, 35, psychologist Carlos Diaz, 29, and neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque are to be questioned next week.
Two of Maradona’s children blame Luque for their father’s deteriorating condition after the brain operation.
A panel of 20 medical experts convened by Argentina’s public prosecutor said last month that Maradona’s treatment was rife with “deficiencies and irregularities” and the medical team had left his survival “to fate”.
If found guilty, the seven, who are barred from leaving the country, could face between eight and 25 years in prison.
Maradona is an idol to millions of Argentines after he inspired the South American country to only their second World Cup triumph in 1986.
-AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first footballer to reach billionaire status, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which has valued the Portugal great’s net worth at an estimated $1.4 billion.
The 40-year-old striker’s financial ascent comes after he signed a new contract with Saudi side Al-Nassr in June reportedly worth more than $400 million.
Bloomberg said that Ronaldo earned more than $550 million in salary between 2002 and 2023, supplemented by a decade-long Nike deal worth nearly $18 million annually, and lucrative endorsements with Armani, Castrol and others that added more than $175 million to his fortune.
Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in 2023 had already made him the highest-paid player in football history, with an annual salary of 177 million pounds ($237.52 million), plus bonuses and a reported 15% share in his Saudi Arabia club.
Argentina and Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi has earned more than $600 million in pre-tax salary during his career.
Ronaldo’s billionaire status places him among a rare group of athletes that includes basketball greats Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James, golfer Tiger Woods and tennis player Roger Federer.
Ronaldo suggested he is not considering retirement any time soon.
“I still have a passion for this,” he said at the Portugal Football Globes gala on Tuesday. “My family says it’s time to quit and they ask me why I want to score 1000 goals if I’ve already scored 900-something. But I don’t think that way inside.
“I’m still producing good things, I’m helping my club and the national team. Why not continue? I am sure that when I finish I will leave full because I gave everything of myself. I know I don’t have many years left to play, but the few I have left, I have to enjoy them to the fullest.”
-Reuters
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Former England soccer captain David Beckham and actor Gary Oldman were knighted in King Charles’ annual birthday honours list on Saturday, while sculptor Antony Gormley was made a Companion of Honour.
Beckham, 50, joined Manchester United as a trainee in 1993, going on to make almost 400 appearances for the club where he won a string of titles and cups.
He subsequently played for Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, and Inter Milan, as well as captaining his country 58 times and making 115 appearances.
His marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham in 1999 cemented a celebrity status which went far beyond his sporting exploits.
Oldman, 67, started his career on the stage, where he was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, before rising to prominence in film. He won the best actor Oscar for playing Winston Churchill in the 2017 drama “Darkest Hour”.
He also had roles in the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and the “Harry Potter” movie series and more recently starred in the TV spy drama “Slow Horses”.
Other famous names receiving honours included damehoods for musical theatre star Elaine Paige, novelist Pat Barker and ceramics maker Emma Bridgewater.
Roger Daltrey, lead singer of rock band the Who and a patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust, received a knighthood for services to charity.
More than 1,200 people received honours for their achievements, with a particular focus on those who had given their time to public service, the government said.
King Charles’ official birthday will be celebrated with the annual “Trooping the Colour” military parade in London on Saturday. His actual birthday is on November 14
-Reuters
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One of three judges in Diego Maradona’s closely scrutinized homicide trial in Argentina resigned on Tuesday amid a scandal triggered by the alleged filming of an unauthorised documentary, bringing uncertainty to the future of legal proceedings.
The high-profile trial over the death of soccer star Maradona began on March 11 in the South American country where the World Cup winner is still revered.
-Reuters
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