The body of the four-year-old boy found dead this Wednesday on a Garrucha beach shows “signs of physical and sexual violence”, as revealed by the preliminary conclusions of the autopsy to which he was subjected at the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) of Almería. His mother, 21, and her partner remain detained by the Civil Guard in police stations in the municipality of Almeria and are expected to be brought to justice this Saturday. The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has reported that the man has had a restraining order against the woman and the minor in force since last October.
The family reported the minor missing under strange circumstances late Wednesday afternoon. The 112 Andalusia Emergency service then mobilized the Garrucha Local Police, Civil Protection and Civil Guard. Meanwhile, relatives used social networks to request citizen collaboration to locate the child, who had spent the afternoon on the beach with his mother. Agents from the armed institute finally located the child’s lifeless body in a rocky area of a beach in Garrucha, near Mojácar, around 11:30 p.m. There were clear signs of a “violent death,” as reported by sources in the case.
After questioning her, investigators arrested the child’s mother. Hours later, they also arrested his romantic partner, who is not the child’s biological father. The idea since then has been to keep them both in police custody for the 72 hours allowed by law to “obtain maximum information” about what happened, according to sources close to the investigation, which is under summary secrecy. Among other aspects, they seek to know if the child was taken to the place where he was found after his death. The Deputy Government Delegate in Almería, José María Martín, reported this Friday that the two arrested persons will be placed at the disposal of the Civil and Investigation Section of Court of Instance number 4 of Vera, on guard duty, this Saturday.
The arrested man, the sentimental partner of the mother but not the biological father of the minor, has a restraining order in force against both the woman and the child, the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) reported this afternoon. The measure was agreed on October 20 by the Civil and Investigation Section of the Court of Instance number 1 of Vera, competent in Violence against Women.
The Garrucha City Council convened one minute this Thursday, a day that was declared official mourning for the death of the minor. “From the City Council we convey our deepest condolences and all our support to their families and loved ones in these difficult times,” the council said in a statement. “We are very affected by what happened,” acknowledged Pedro Zamora, mayor of the town.
While these preliminary data of the investigations emerge, the two detained for their alleged relationship with the crime – the child’s mother, 21 years old, and his current romantic partner – remain in the cells of the Civil Guard and “predictably” will be brought to justice this Saturday, as announced this Friday by the Government’s deputy delegate in Almería, José María Martín. Although the subdelegate has publicly asked for “prudence” and to avoid “speculation” about the nature of the events until the police investigation is concluded, the sources consulted indicate that the evidence collected points to the existence of sexual violence.
In this context, the work of the agents now focuses, with the utmost thoroughness, on determining the material authorship of said attack and the exact “degree of participation” of each of those arrested in the homicide, whether by direct action or by omission of the duty of care and protection of the minor.
The case was precipitated after the disappearance report filed by the child’s father, which activated a search device that ended with the discovery of the body in an area near the coast, between the Almeria municipalities of Garrucha and Mojácar. According to the information that has emerged, the mother and her partner currently resided in Vera (Almería), a neighboring town, although they maintained strong ties with Garrucha. In addition, the detained man had a restraining order against the child’s mother, a circumstance that is being analyzed to reconstruct the context of coexistence in which the crime occurred. The Government subdelegate has described the event as “tragic news” and has expressed his “absolute regret”. Likewise, it has called for responsibility regarding the dissemination of videos of the child on social networks, warning about the possible legal consequences of exposing the image of the victim.
