BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of Diego Maradona's daughters testified Tuesday in the trial of seven medical professionals accused of negligence in the soccer great's death, describing the room where her father underwent home hospitalization in 2020 as “disgusting” and “smelling of urine.”
Dalma Maradona said she and her siblings were deceived by the doctors treating their father.
“They promised us a home hospitalization that never happened,” said Dalma, the eldest of the former Argentina captain’s five children and the first of them to testify in court.
“They made us believe in something that never happened. They deceived us in the cruelest way to support that,” she added.
Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020 while undergoing home hospitalization on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain. He was 60.
Dalma said the facility was not fit for medical treatment.
“It smelled like urine, the bed was disgusting,” she said. "There was a portable toilet. There was this panel on the windows to keep out the light. There was nothing. It was horrible. The kitchen was disgusting.”
Seven healthcare professionals, including a neurosurgeon and a psychiatrist, are on trial for failing to provide adequate care and could face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Dalma recalled that after the hematoma surgery, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, and psychologist Carlos Díaz — three of the defendants whom she identified as “my father’s doctors” — suggested home hospitalization since Maradona did not want to remain hospitalized.
“There were three options (voluntary hospitalization, forced hospitalization, and home hospitalization), but they made us understand that home hospitalization was the only option,” Dalma said. “They promised us 24-hour nurses to monitor his blood pressure and to give him medication.”
Last week, Diego Maradona’s ex-wife and a doctor also questioned the decision to take him to a private home following the surgery instead of admitting him to a rehabilitation center.
The deficiencies in Maradona’s home care are one of the prosecution’s key pieces of evidence against the defendants.
Dalma Maradona said the last time she saw her father alive was at the hospital as she had not been allowed access to the house where he was rehabilitating until after he was dead.
“I went into the room (after he died), he was very swollen. He was covered with a sheet, but you could see he was swollen,” she said. “I threw myself on him because I thought he was going to wake up. His face was very swollen, his hands, his face. His stomach, his body. Everything.”
She added: “I miss him every day of my life, and what pains me the most is knowing that if they (the doctors) had done their job, this could have been avoided,” Dalma concluded. “It’s still very painful to remember the abuse he suffered, and I didn’t know. If I had known this was going to be the outcome, I would have handled it differently. But I never thought about it.”
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Victor Stinfale, former friend and lawyer of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, leaves court in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, after speaking at a trial of the medical team that treated Maradona which face charges of homicide by negligence. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Fernandez)
Victor Stinfale, former friend and lawyer of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, leaves court in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, after speaking at a trial of the medical team that treated Maradona which face charges of homicide by negligence. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Fernandez)
Dalma Maradona, a daughter of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, enters court in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, for a trial over allegations of homicide by negligence against the medical team that treated her father. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Fernandez)
Gianinna Maradona, center right, daughter of the late soccer star Diego Maradona, and her mother Claudia Villafane, wait to enter the courtroom in San Isidro, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, for a trial over allegations of homicide by negligence against the medical team that treated Diego Maradona. (AP Photo/Emmanuel Fernandez)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 14 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and destroyed bulldozers and other heavy equipment that had been supplied by mediators to clear rubble. Separate strikes on Tuesday killed two people in Lebanon.
Israel's 18-month offensive against Hamas has destroyed vast areas of Gaza, raising fears that much of it may never be rebuilt. The territory already had a shortage of heavy equipment, which is also needed to rescue people from the rubble after Israeli strikes and to clear vital roads.
A municipality in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza said a strike on its parking garage destroyed nine bulldozers provided by Egypt and Qatar, which helped broker the ceasefire that took hold in January. Israel ended the truce last month, renewing its bombardment and ground operations and sealing the territory's 2 million Palestinians off from all imports, including food, fuel and medical supplies.
The strikes also destroyed a water tanker and a mobile generator provided by aid groups, and a truck used to pump sewage, the Jabaliya al-Nazla municipality said.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes. The military says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the group operates in densely populated areas.
An Israeli airstrike early Tuesday destroyed a multistory home in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing nine people, including four women and four children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. The dead included a 2-year-old girl and her parents.
“They were asleep, sleeping in God’s peace. They had nothing to do with anything,” said Awad Dahliz, the slain girl's grandfather. “What is the fault of this innocent child?"
A separate strike in the built-up Jabaliya refugee camp killed three children and their parents, according to the Gaza Health Ministry's emergency service.
Israel's air and ground war has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 people hostage. They are still holding 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
Hamas has said it will only free the remaining hostages in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners, a full Israeli withdrawal and a lasting ceasefire. Israel has said it will keep fighting until the hostages are returned and Hamas has been either destroyed or disarmed and sent into exile. It has pledged to hold onto so-called security zones in Gaza indefinitely.
An Israeli drone strike southeast of Beirut killed Hussein Atwi, a member of the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a regionwide Sunni Islamist political movement. The group said he was leaving for work when the drone struck.
Lebanon's Health Ministry said another person was killed in an Israeli strike on the southern Tyre province, without providing further details.
Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes across Lebanon despite reaching a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group in November. Israel says it is targeting militants and weapons caches. The Lebanese government says 190 people have been killed and 485 wounded since the ceasefire took hold.
Hezbollah began firing on Israel the day after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. Israel responded with airstrikes, and the conflict in Lebanon escalated into a full-blown war in September when Israel carried out a heavy wave of strikes and killed most of Hezbollah's top leadership.
Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians inspect the damage caused by an Israeli army airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Smoke rises from the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
A Palestinian man extinguishes the fire from bulldozers after they were hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians examine the remains of bulldozers hit by an Israeli army airstrike in Jabaliya, northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
