Online Reporter
FOOTBALL legend Diego Maradona’s death sent shockwaves across the world exactly five years ago.
Bizarre claims surrounding his death – from his drug abuse to his bloated body being found in a “house of horrors” – have painted a tragic picture of the star’s fall from grace and grim final days.
Diego Maradona, born in 1960, was an Argentine footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. He led Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, famously scoring the “Hand of God” goal and the “Goal of the Century” against England.
His incredible dribbling, vision, and flair made him a global icon, inspiring generations of footballers, including Lionel Messi. But off the pitch, Maradona battled drug addiction and health problems, which often overshadowed his footballing brilliance.
He was banned from the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for ephedrine, marking a dramatic fall from grace.
In November 2020, the star died from a heart attack, aged 60, at a rented home in Tigre, Argentina while he was recovering from surgery on a brain clot.
Following his death, his carers and hospital staff who treated him were accused of medical negligence with prosecutors claiming they could have done more to save him.
A five-month trial, which began in March this year, exposed chilling claims about the footballer’s death including, being treated like an animal by a team who were paid to look after him. The trial, however, was dramatically cancelled after just two months after one of the presiding judges, Julieta Makintach, was removed for appearing in a documentary about the case.
Five years on, as the world remembers the fallen star, here are some of the key moments that defined his last hours and the scandal-filled years that followed.
LEGEND’S DECLINE
While one of the world’s most celebrated footballers, Maradona suffered with a terrible drug addiction.
The superstar battled with his addiction even during his playing career, and was first banned for 15 months following a failed drugs test in 1991 — ending his legendary seven-year spell at Napoli —where to this day he is still adored.
He was then charged with drug trafficking and possession later that year, receiving a suspended 12-month sentence. Maradona subsequently returned with Sevilla and Newell’s Old Boys, before testing positive for five prohibited substances during the 1994 World Cup, again receiving a 15-month ban and spending several weeks at a Swiss clinic in order to try and kick his drug problem.A third failed drug test in 1997 ultimately brought the curtain down on Maradona’s distinguished playing career.
DIED ‘IN AGONY’
Earlier this year, a five-month trial began in which seven of the people tasked with caring for Maradona were accused of homicide with possible intent.
Autopsy expert Mauricio Cassinelli said in court that the 1986 World Cup winner had “a heart that weighed more than twice its normal size.”
He died in a dark room lying in agony for half a day before suffering a heart attack. The tragic star experienced dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle that causes the heart chambers to enlarge and stretch.
And he suffered from cirrhosis which damaged his liver, as well as myocarditis which occurs when the heart becomes inflamed.
There have been claims that Maradona drank beer in the morning and was given sleeping pills dissolved in his booze at night while he was under the accused’s medical care.
WhatsApp messages were uncovered in which his neurologist, Leopoldo Luque, wrote “the fat man’s going to end up kicking the bucket”.
And it is alleged that Maradona was washed down with a hosepipe rather than being helped to the shower.
‘HOUSE OF HORROR’
Chief prosecutor Patricio Ferrari claimed the sporting icon spent his last days in a “house of horror” and received “reckless and deficient” care.
The prosecutor shocked the room by holding up a grim picture of the player’s last day, which showed the Argentinian icon lying on his back with his bloated stomach exposed under a lifted-up black T-shirt.
“This is the way he died,” Ferrari told the court. He continued: “We will show that between November 11 and 25 2020, Diego Armando Maradona was introduced into house 45 in the San Barrio neighbourhood in San Benavides in Tigre when, clearly the victim, he was not in full use of his mental faculties and even less could decide on his own about his health.
“He entered that place for a clinical rehabilitation and home medical care that we can say without any doubt was calamitous.
He said the defendants “improvised” and that they “neglected all the duties they had”.
“In that House of Horror where Diego Maradona died no one did what they had to do,” Mr Ferrari added.
WRECKED TRIAL
In May, the homicide trial was officially cancelled after a judge appeared in a documentary about the ongoing case.Julieta Makintach— dubbed the “judge of God” —featured in a trailer for the six-part mini-series which was embarrassingly played to the court.
News broadcasts of footy legend Maradona’s death were also featured in the trailer, as well as an excerpt of an emergency call asking for an ambulance. It ended with Makintach preparing documents at a desk prior to the trial.
The bizarre footage suggests unauthorised recordings were shot inside the courtroom, which constitutes a breach of judicial rules. It is unclear how the footage was captured. The trailer preview was one of several pieces of evidence seized by cops in raids last week which left the trial suspended. It has now reportedly been designated as “null and void” by the Third Criminal Court of San Isidro, reports Clarin.Judge Makintach has also since resigned in the face of the allegations. —Sun.
