DATE OF JUDGEMENT :
2013
JUDGES :
Majority Judgement – Justice Rothschild, Justice P.J; Weingart, Justice J
Minority Judgement – Justice Chaney J
SUBJECT
the following judgment is about an eight-year-old boy named Gabriel who was brutally tortured and assaulted by his mother (Pearl Fernandez) and her boyfriend Isuaro Aguirre. Many investigations were carried on in this particular case, at the time when the boy was alive and none reported the abuse he went through or made it mandatory that he must be separated. In the end, the boy succumbed to the torture and the claims put forward by his mother and her boyfriend was that it was not first-degree murder. The question in front of the court was to examine the circumstances and declare whether the boy was murdered or not and whether the individuals who reported no abuse were guilty of anything.
OVERVIEW
The case deals with the murder of a boy who was of eight years of age.
Initially, he was living with his maternal grandmother then later on (October 2012) his mother took over his custody, and then he started living with his mother and her boyfriend.
His first-grade teacher contacted the DCFS (the Department of Children and Family Services) regarding the injuries on his body. She even stated that he was being assaulted by his mother. He had informed his teacher about what happened at his home, whenever she questioned him about the bruises.
The department carried on several inquiries and all gave Pearl a clean chit and stated that the boy was not being abused.
Any such allegations were denied by Pearl and she said that Gabriel encountered these injuries while playing.
The department then transferred the case to the Family Preservation Unit. Before the investigation was started the counselor performed a risk check and stated that the children were highly exposed to the risk of abuse. However, no actions were taken even after this.
The department after their investigation stated that Pearl was a fit mother to her children, while simultaneously neglecting all the torture that Gabriel went through, just so that they don’t have to do some extra work.
It was on the 23rd of May that Pearl contacted 911 and stated that Gabriel couldn’t breathe. The team arrived and Gabriel was in a far worse condition than expected. He was rushed to the hospital where he was kept on life support for two days after which he could not survive.
IMPORTANT PROVISIONS
Section 273 (a) of the Penal Code – any individual who under certain circumstances is likely to either produce great bodily harm or death, with their complete will either causes or lets a child suffer or inflicts an unjustifiable type of pain to them or any mental suffering, or in those cases where they have the custody of the child let the health of the child to deteriorate, or wilfully becomes a cause of a situation where the health of the child is endangered then they shall be punished by imprisoning them in the country jail for not more than one year or in the state jail for a period of either two, four or even six years.
Section 6200 of the Government Code – every officer who has the custody of either any record or any map, or the book or any paper or proceeding of the court which is either filed or has been deposited in any public office or is placed in their hands for a specific purpose will be punishable before the court of law pursuant to the subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for a period of either two, three or even four years if they let any individual, considering either the whole or even a part of the record to do any of the following : (a) steal, remove or secrete (b) destroy, mutilate or deface (c) alter or falsify
Section 995 of the Penal Code – states that a case can be set aside if it has been found that the charges applied on the defendants have been committed without any reasonable cause. This probable cause can be determined if a reasonable individual feels that there exists a strong suspicion that the accused might necessarily be guilty of the alleged crime.
ISSUES
- Whether Gabriel was being assaulted and tortured or not.
- Whether Pearl and Isuaro were behind Gabriel’s death.
- Whether the individuals who carried on the investigation should be punished.
ANALYSIS OF JUDGEMENT
The fact that Gabriel was being assaulted and tortured and abused at his home started gaining light in October 2012.
1. Over the next couple of months, this teacher who had filed a complaint earlier, reported that Gabriel was coming to school with busted lips, swollen face with bruised dots, etc. Gabriel informed his teacher that these marks were of being punched by his mother and her shooting on his face with a BB gun. However, at the time of the investigation, Gabriel changed his explanation because he couldn’t speak of it in front of his mother.
It was in March that his therapist had filed a report which stated that Gabriel was forced to perform oral sex on a relative.
There were even instances where he was starved or forced to eat cat litter. Complaints were being registered of fresh cigarette burns on his head and pepper spray being forced into his eyes.
Gabriel’s autopsy report took unusually long because his injuries were very substantive. It was because of all the stress, atrophy, and abuse that he was subjected to that his thymus gland had reduced to 10gm from 100. Thus judge declared that not only was Gabriel tortured but he was assaulted and abused and these acts are beyond animalistic because even animals care about their off-springs.
2. How Pearl and Isauro kept Gabriel was barbaric and gruesome. They tried to demean Gabriel by addressing him as gay and locking him up in the cupboard. They trashed him, starved him, and kept him petrified for the boy could not speak against his mother in any of the investigations and officials often asked him to not speak lies in school regarding him being beaten up. There were often instances where Pearl and her boyfriend tortured Gabriel in every possible way, they stuffed his mouth with a sock and bandana, kept him locked in a cupboard for hours. Gabriel moved in with his mother in 2012, and it was reportedly in October when this period of abuse had started but sadly even after repeated complaints, investigations, reports that none of it stopped, it rather encouraged Pearl and her boyfriend to continue with their barbaric actions and lead to the death of the innocent boy. Pearl had called 911 stating that Gabriel couldn’t breathe after falling into the bathtub, however, it was when the team reached there that they found that there was more to the scene. Gabriel had broken ribs on both sides of his chest, he had multiple fractures on his skull, and other internal injuries and burns, and bruises. The autopsy revealed that it was the torture that he was subjected to which caused his death.
3. It was initially the social workers who were involved in the case would charge because they were responsible for minimalizing the significance of the physical mental and also emotional injuries that Gabriel was going through. The court also held that they were responsible for allowing a boy who was in a very vulnerable state to remain at his home and continue to be abused. The first worker named Stephanie Rodriguez had made a few visits to Gabriel's family on various occasions as his teacher had continuously reported instances of him being assaulted and in her report along with her supervisor stated that the report of physical abuse was inconclusive and there was no danger to the minors who were living in that house, she rather stated that Pearl was more of a neglectful mother. It was after this that the case had been transferred to the family preservation unit which then appointed Patricia Clement to investigate this matter. It was before she made her visit the family home of Gabriel that a risk assessment was taken by an in-home counselor where he revealed that the children were exposed to an environment that had a high risk of abuse, he even reported this matter to the Department and the authorities who did nothing. After this when Clement submitted her report she stated that the investigation can be closed as Pearl was a fit mother to her children and also protect them from any threat that could be caused to their well being she also stated that Pearl was not suffering from any mental health issues and she had created a very safe environment for the upbringing of her children. Clement was being supervised by Gregory Merritt Who approved the findings which were put forward by hard and had also permitted high recommendation to close the case. All four of them i.e. the social workers would charge with one felony count of child abuse and one felony count of falsifying public records. However, it was later on that these social workers had escaped that punishment as they had appealed to the court on the ground that they had the requisite duty to control the abusers and did not have the care or custody of Gabriel. Furthermore, the court stated that they did not have any relationship with Pearl and her boyfriend and they were not under any legal obligation to supervise and control their conduct, the court also stated that the prosecutor was not able to prove that the social workers had an affirmative duty to control Pearl and her boyfriend. Lastly, the court stated that no evidence could prove that the social workers had taken the role of caregivers and so it was not possible to hold them liable for the care and custody of Gabriel. The social workers later contested that they were not officers as it has been envisaged in the code and they are not vested with sovereign duties as they are professional employees under DCFS and so they could not be charged for falsification of records under section 6200 of the government code.
CONCLUSION
It is a mother who is considered to be the best caregiver auto source is unconditional love to a child. The bond between a parent and a child especially when the child is very young is very crucial because it plays a very important role in building the child and deciding I still what will they be like in the future because as we all know that it is our parents who are our first teachers. This case has shown the most horrific form that can ever be given to this relationship which is so sacred and sentimental that it is beyond imaginable. What Gabriel went through was not only wrong but also inhumane, it is something that no one no matter what their age is should be subjected to at any point in their life.
This case was nothing but a horrid example of how a parent should not be and what they should not do. Becoming a parent is a very big responsibility on its own and it is a choice that an individual makes which is why subjecting a vulnerable child to two practices like locking them up, starving them, but even abusing or beating them up has never been and will never be right. Pearl was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole while her boyfriend was sentenced to the death penalty because of the gruesome acts that they performed and ultimately took Gabriel’s life. The social workers were however discharged but releasing them was not a very correct decision because even if they were not in a position to control the actions of Pearl and her boyfriend they still were entitled to the power to recognize what Gabriel was going through and acknowledge that abuse and also make sure that these actions were stopped and Gabriel was rescued.
They displayed a very selfish nature by ignoring what all that poor little boy went through just so that their work is not increased and this is something that we all need to think about because we might not understand that at one point when we walk away from our duty of protecting someone or ignore something or are not very aware of the situation or the circumstances then we can land someone up in grave danger. Being social workers it was their responsibility to not only recognize but also help Gabriel and make sure that he is not subjected to this behaviour. It was very shameful of them to have not made proper efforts and not giving that child a chance to speak in the absence of his mother or recognize the bruises on his body and help him get out of that situation.
As a legal system, we need to make sure that not only children but even others who are subjected to any form of abuse add rescued and we do our part in firstly acknowledging that or making sure and then carrying proper investigation or informing the right authorities about them.
