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Santo Domingo.- The Fourth Collegiate Court of the National District has sentenced Francelys María Furcal Rodríguez to five years in prison for the 2022 murder of Chinese merchant Zongxin Chen in Ensanche Gregorio Luperón, Santo Domingo. She will serve her sentence at Najayo Women’s Correction and Rehabilitation Center.
Furcal Rodríguez was found guilty of voluntary homicide, identity theft, and violations of the Dominican Penal Code and weapons control laws. Prosecutors detailed that she fatally stabbed Chen during an altercation at the Z&C hardware store before fleeing. Security footage captured the incident.
Following the crime, Furcal Rodríguez fled to Colombia using a false passport and later traveled through Brazil, Qatar, the UAE, and Spain. Spanish authorities arrested her in May 2024 after an extradition request. She was later returned to the Dominican Republic, where she was placed in preventive detention before receiving her sentence.
Wow, she fled to 5 different countries but was still caught. Didn’t understand the concept of “laying low”…
How was an employee of a Chinese business able to fund her travels and false documents?
A five-year sentence for murder seems to be a slap on the wrist. Especially, when she fled the country to avoid prosecution, which is a crime by itself. Yet, there is more to the story because Furcal Rodriguez, an employee, was defending herself from an attack by the victim, the employer, during a heated argument.
It could appear because public sentiments against the Chinese approach to business in the RD had an influence on the lenient sentence?