Gabriel Fernandez Murdered By His Mother And Boyfriend

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A teenager described in court the mistreatment that his 8-year-old brother suffered for months at the hands of his mother and boyfriend, which ended in death.

According to NBC, Los Angeles County prosecutors argue that the boy was the victim of terrible torture by his mother and boyfriend, who conspired to kill him since the boy moved in with them in 2012.

Ezequiel, the victim's 16-year-old brother, was the one who testified in detail about the abuse suffered by his little brother at the hands of Isauro Aguirre, the boyfriend of his mother.

Aguirre, 37, is being tried in Los Angeles Superior Court for murder in Gabriel's death in May 2013. Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernández, 34, is also charged with murder in the boy's death.. Her trial is still pending.

Both face a possible death sentence if found guilty. According to the local press, the evidence and testimony at Aguirre's trial have stunned court observers and the jury, and some have been heard repeatedly sobbing.

Aguirre's lawyer, John Alan, said in court this week that his client is "guilty of murder" and does not deny "indescribable" abuse. Alan noted that Aguirre was enraged before the boy's final beating, but that he "never intended for Gabriel to die."

When paramedics arrived at the victim's residence on May 22, 2013, they found him naked, with a fractured skull, broken ribs, severe burns, and pellets inserted into the body. Brain death was declared and life support was withdrawn two days later.

Gabriel's death also caused some of the social workers handling the boy's case to be charged with negligence. According to the media, all the accused social workers have pleaded not guilty.

An investigation by the Los Angeles Times newspaper revealed that social services agents visited Gabriel's house several times, but found no signs of abuse and did not record the necessary data that would have allowed them to discover what was happening.

Ezequiel told the jury this week that his brother suffered regular beatings, allegedly at the hands of Aguirre and his mother, and that he was gagged and bound without food or water for hours in a small locked closet that he called the "box." The couple allegedly laughed during the beatings.

Ezequiel said Aguirre grabbed his brother by the neck and dropped him to the ground to pass out, made him eat cat litter and feces, and used a belt buckle to hit him.

Sometimes when he was naked, he was shot with a pellet gun in the chest, legs, and groin. Ezequiel said that on one occasion Aguirre hit Gabriel's head so hard on a wall that it left a mark.

He also testified that Aguirre and his mother allegedly forced Gabriel to eat rotten food, and that when he vomited it, they forced him to eat his own vomit.

"My mom and her boyfriend made Gabriel eat spoiled or expired things," she said. “One thing I remember is expired spinach. She vomited it up and was forced to eat it off the table."

The teenager, who was 12 when Gabriel died, said his mother and boyfriend allegedly threatened to beat him up if he alerted people to Gabriel's abuse and told him to lie to social workers if they asked how Gabriel had gotten made the wounds.

He also said that his mother and Aguirre focused their anger on Gabriel and did not abuse him, his brother or sister.

Prosecutors pointed out at the beginning of the trial that Aguirre mistreated the boy for believing that Gabriel was gay. It is not a drug issue. It wasn't about mental health issues,”Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told the jury Monday.

"Aguirre was abusive because he didn't like it … he believed that Gabriel was gay, and for him that was a bad thing … he did it out of hatred for a small child," he added.

Gabriel's 14-year-old sister Virginia also testified this week at Aguirre's trial, according to KABC.

The night Gabriel died, he said, Aguirre “took off [Gabriel's] air and fell, and did not get up again. Then they picked him up, threw him in the shower and yelled at him to wake up."

"When he didn't wake up, my mother decided to call the police. And she told me to take a rag and we cleaned most of the blood that was on the floor, "he added.

According to CBS News, the trial is expected to last six to eight weeks.