‘A conviction challenges all the previous beliefs in impunity’

Máximo Thomsen passed out after hearing the judges of TOF (Tribunal Oral en lo Criminal) 1 Court in Dolores sentence him to life imprisonment, along with four of his friends. Brothers Ciro and Luciano Pertossi wept, while their cousin Lucas Pertossi could also not hide his anguish.

“The announcement of their conviction signified the collapse of their previous world, with everything forming part of known reality rapidly fading,” explains psychologist Irene Sirianni, pointing out that those with psychopathic personalities “have emotions … but only for themselves.”

“Although that person knows their circumstances, the conviction tends to burst through as a surprise, based not on ignorance but on expectations (whether sustained by realistic hypotheses or fantasies) of being able to elude the consequences of their actions,” the specialist in forensic psychodiagnosis tells Perfil.

“Their fear of the present and the future, their anger over an adverse reality, their impotence of knowing that although the instance of appeal exists, their sentence has been written and will have to be accepted in the immediate term so that there is nothing which can be done against it.”

According to the specialist, those convicted of killing Báez Sosa, Galarza and Dupuy have certain personality traits in common, characterised by “the lack of empathy with others, a sense of impunity as to their own conduct andan emotional distan ce from the consequences of that conduct.”

In su ch cases,shehigh lights, “there is frequently a sensation of frustration and extreme impotence because they tend to be people who go through life with the profound con vic ti onthatt he ya realways going to get away with it without any consequences… so that the reality comes as a devastating blow defying all their previous beliefs in their impunity, personal success and power over everybody else and over every situation.”

“Psychopathic personalities,” she concludes, “contrary to the belief of most people, have emotions and express them, only that they are strictly for their personal use for themselves only. All their emotions are expressed at the moment they feel the impact of a situation exclusively affecting them.”