Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Catholic San Isidro, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina · 2023

Argentina: Trinitarian Sisters nun convicted of sexually abusing five adolescents at a children's home

Record class

Context only

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

nun of the Hermanas Trinitarias (Trinitarian Sisters) with residential custodial authority over girls at the order's children's home

Organization

Hogar de las Hermanas Trinitarias de Boulogne, San Isidro

Spiritual nexus

The victims were girls placed in the Trinitarian Sisters' residential care and living under Téllez Fajardo's direct religious and custodial authority as the resident nun in charge; when one victim tried to disclose, the home's own response invoked waiting for a 'divine sign' rather than intervention, illustrating how the institution's religious framing itself blocked escape from the abuse.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority
  • Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2023-12-28 · conviction and sentence

    Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal 1 de San Isidro, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. María Téllez Fajardo (known as Sor Marina), a Colombian-born nun of the Hermanas Trinitarias, was convicted by majority vote of gravely outrageous sexual abuse aggravated by her position of entrusted care, her authority relationship, and the victims' consequent inability to freely consent. The court found systematic, non-isolated abuse of five girls aged 12-17 who cohabited with her at the order's children's home in Boulogne, San Isidro, between 2017 and 2021, exploiting her position of authority. She was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment; the defense announced it would appeal to the Buenos Aires provincial Tribunal de Casación Penal.

Appellate history

  1. Defense announced intent to appeal to the Tribunal de Casación Penal, Buenos Aires Province, as of the trial-court verdict (28 December 2023); no resolution of that appeal was located.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • cohabitation authority as the resident religious figure in charge of the home
  • position of trust as caregiver combined with religious office
  • spiritual deflection of disclosure — a victim who reported the abuse to the home's director was told to 'wait for a divine sign'

Primary record

Sources

national newspaper verdict report 'Condenaron a 10 años de prisión a una monja por abuso sexual contra 5 adolescentes en un hogar de San Isidro', Perfil.

Report on the Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal 1 de San Isidro verdict, sentence, victim ages, abuse period, and the 'divine sign' detail regarding disclosure.

national newspaper verdict report 'Sor Marina, culpable: condenaron a diez años de prisión a una monja por abusar de cinco adolescentes', La Nación, 28 December 2023.

National paper of record confirming the verdict, the specific legal qualification of the offense (abuse of authority relationship, inability to consent), and the defense's stated intent to appeal to Casación.

Related record

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