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I first wrote about 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez about three-and-a-half years ago—see that post HERE.
One day Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, caught Gabriel playing with dolls; the next day they sent him to school in a dress.
After that Gabriel Fernandez was regularly beaten by his mother and Aguirre; they hit him with a baseball bat—knocking out several of his teeth—and they shot him in the groin with a BB in the groin; he was doused with pepper spray; he was forced to eat his own vomit; he was locked in a cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth; he was whipped with a belt.
All because Pearl Fernandez and Isauro Aguirre thought he was gay.
On May 22, 2013, Gabriel was taken to his room by his mother while Isauro followed with a baseball bat. One of his siblings later said you could hear Gabriel screaming, and then suddenly it stopped.
Pearl Fernandez called 911 that day to report that Gabriel was not breathing, and when paramedics arrived they found Gabriel in his bedroom naked, with a cracked skull, several broken ribs, and BB pellets in his lung and groin.
Gabriel Fernandez died two days later.
And now, finally, all these many months later Isauro Aguirre has been sentenced to death for Gabriel’s murder, while Pearl Fernandez was given life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Now, normally I am no proponent of the death penalty but in this case … I am not very bothered by it at all.
He was eight. He was brutalized by the one person who should have loved him the most, and he was brutalized by her boyfriend while she watched.
Several California children and family agencies investigated abuse allegations leading up to Gabriel's death, and investigators concluded there was no evidence of abuse.
Prosecutors have since filed charges of child abuse and falsifying records against four county social workers in Gabriel's death.
Good.
Doing nothing is the same as handing Isauro Aguirre a baseball bat.
Take just a minute today and think about Gabriel, especially with all those children at the border who have lost their families because of this administration.
We must do better, if only for the children.
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Monday, June 25, 2018
Finally, Some Justice For Gabriel Fernandez
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(((Gabriel Fernandez)))
ReplyDeleteSo heartbreaking. I struggle to breathe as I think about what this child went through.
ReplyDeleteSo difficult to wrap my head around such horrors. I hope the social workers are severely prosecuted and punished as well. Children who are abused need an escape route and these social worker's whose job it was failed to provide that.
ReplyDeleteIt was heartbreaking when I first read of it happening; and now, there are no words...
ReplyDeleteHorrible.
ReplyDeleteThe story is beyond any vocabulary I can think of. A death sentence is too lenient. Make the perpetrators both suffer for an extraordinary long time. As for the others, give them something they deserve and that they'll NEVER forget.
ReplyDeleteI just can't! I think I'm going to shut down for awhile.
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone not take that child away as soon as his wounds were seen? What about his teachers? Didn't they wonder about his sudden loss of large numbers of teeth? The bruises? How can we fail children like this time after time?
ReplyDeletegive mama and boyfriend the same treatment. NO MERCY!
ReplyDeletePoor little kid did not have one friend while alive. Let's hope the justice system is his friend now.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I believe in having a choice in abortion. Everyone shouldn't have children. Things like this are going to get worse. When the supreme court gets rid of Roe V. Wade. And for all your readers out there. When your friends get married. Stop pushing them to start having kids. A lot of people who would be better off without children, still have kids because society expects it. Stop pushing the stigma that being childless is a horrible thing.
ReplyDelete