Jean Andrés Pumarol Fernández arrested and sent to trial; defense warns of inadequate psychiatric care

The Second Chamber of the Penal Court of the National District in the Dominican Republic overturned a prior ruling that had exempted Jean Andrés Pumarol Fernández from criminal responsibility on the basis of his schizophrenia. The appellate judges Ysis B. Muñiz Almonte and Teófilo Andújar Sánchez ordered three months of preventive detention and the opening of a trial for the July 2025 attack in the Naco residential complex that killed 70‑year‑old Yolanda Handal Abugabir and injured five other persons.

Pumarol was arrested by the Ministry of Public after surrendering to authorities in Ciudad Nueva. His defense attorney, Richard Martínez, warned that the Centro de Corrección y Rehabilitación Anamuya, where he will serve his detention, lacks proper psychiatric facilities and does not guarantee the safety of inmates with mental illnesses.