In many parts of the world, significant progress has been made in the areas of justice and equality.
Unfortunately, this is still not the case everywhere, and children continue to suffer because of it.
There are few things as painful to see as when a child is abused.
The tragic and sad story of 8-year-old boy Gabriel Fernandez clearly shows us why we should never let hate win.
On May 22, 2013, an emergency center received an urgent call. The voice of a woman on the other end demanded immediate help – her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Fernandez, had stopped breathing.
When paramedics arrived on the scene, they found a small, lifeless boy with blue eyes on the ground. He was naked, had fractures on his head, and three broken ribs.
The boy had been shot and several of his teeth were missing. Gabriel was immediately taken to the hospital, but died two days later.
“There were abrasions. There were open wounds. There was bruising. There was swelling. There were skin missing from the top of the neck,” nurse Alison Segal, one of the staff members who treated Gabriel, told ABC7.
Initially, no one understood what had happened to the boy – but it soon became clear that this was the climax of a very tragic story.
And the worst part is that all of this could have been prevented.
Between 2003 and 2012, no less than 60 reports were filed against Gabriel’s mother and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.
Many had testified about how the couple abused and tortured young Gabriel.
Several of Gabriel’s teachers, for example, had reached out to authorities earlier. The reason? Gabriel often came to school with black eyes, injured hands, scars on his body, and chapped lips.
But the authorities and the police never fully followed up on or investigated these claims.
After repeated reports, the police finally visited the family, but when an officer spoke with Gabriel’s mother, she claimed that her son had moved to Texas to live with his grandmother.
All the allegations did not lead to any arrests, despite overwhelming evidence and reports that Gabriel was being abused.
After Gabriel’s death, four social workers were fired for failing to do their jobs properly. The police also faced significant criticism.
“The red flags were everywhere. They were ignored. It’s just inexplicable to me,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Jaroslavski.
Shortly after Gabriel’s death, both his mother, Pearl Fernandez, 34, and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre, 37, were arrested.
Many witnesses came forward for the trial, and even members of the jury cried. The torture that Gabriel endured for a long time was unimaginable.
“Punished for being gay”
Gabriel’s older sister, among other things, explained that her mother and most importantly her boyfriend constantly punished Gabriel because they thought he was gay.
Gabriel possibly being gay served as a source of ridicule and abuse by the boyfriend and the mother. Together, they forced Gabriel to play with dolls and made him dress in girls’ clothes at school.
“This wasn’t about drugs. This wasn’t about mental health issues,” said Jonathan Hatami, Los Angeles deputy district attorney. Gabriel was abused “because he [Aguirre] didn’t like him… he believed Gabriel was gay and for him that was a bad thing… he did it out of hatred towards a little boy.”
Gabriel’s 16-year-old brother, Ezequiel, described in detail the abuse, which seemed to mainly come from Aguirre.
According to Ezequiel’s testimony, Gabriel was beaten daily and forced to eat old cat food. Ezequiel also told the jury that his brother was often tied up and locked in a closet for hours without food or water.
The couple laughed as the torture occurred, said Ezequiel.
Gabriel’s first-grade teacher, Jennifer Garcia, cried in court. She says she thinks of Gabriel every day and that he just wanted to be loved.
“I take comfort in the belief that he has peace now,” she said, adding, “And I know his abusers will never have peace, unlike him. They will endure a lifetime of suffering, and I am not the only one hoping they experience the same abuse during their lives and worse.”
Mother Pearl Fernandez spoke briefly, saying that she regretted it and wished Gabriel was still alive, writes 9 News.
She also criticized family members who had spoken about their grief over Gabriel’s death, accusing them of seeking fame.
After a long and grueling trial, followed by people nationwide, the verdict finally came this week.
The judge sentenced the mother to life in prison and the boyfriend Isauro Aguirre received the death penalty for Gabriel’s heinous murder.
The sentence has provided some comfort to the rest of Gabriel’s family, who have been fighting for justice.
Family members of Gabriel have long run a Facebook page and openly discussed the boy’s terrible fate to draw attention to all the horror that led to Gabriel’s death.
They also want to be a voice for Gabriel and show who he really was – before misery and torture took over his life.
Gabriel was a happy, vibrant, and incredibly sweet little boy!
Even if nothing can bring back Gabriel, the boy’s story has had a huge impact on people everywhere, and hopefully we can prevent such a thing from ever happening again.
The case has led many people to think about ways to improve the prevention of child abuse and hate towards those who are different.
As a result of Gabriel’s death, the Los Angeles authorities have made major changes by having social workers do more practical exercises to give them more experience before they start working in the field.
Reading about Gabriel’s fate is painful – I just don’t understand how a human can torture and abuse an 8-year-old boy!
But what is certain is that we will never forget Gabriel and I share his story in the hope that no child will have to suffer like he did.
The only comfort for now is that the people who did this received
