Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Picture Credit: CEN
The preliminary autopsy of two-year-old Julen Rosello Jimenez who fell down a well in Spain shows he died of a traumatic head injury.
Soil was also found in the boy’s oesophagus and stomach which is also thought to have contributed to his death and is indicative that he may still have been alive after the fall as he was still breathing underground.
The autopsy comes as the owner of the land where the toddler died, David Serrano, is on trial after being charged with reckless homicide.
Toddler Julen’s death made worldwide headlines after he fell down an uncovered borehole just 25 centimetres (10 inches) in diameter on a day out with his family in the countryside near the town of Totalan in the southern Spanish province of Malaga in the Andalusia region.
The preliminary autopsy reportedly shows how the youngster’s death was caused by a traumatic brain injury to the left side of his head.
Serrano’s lawyer Antonio Flores had previously presented a report from his architect brother Jesus Maria Flores Vila which claims Julen did not die from the fall but because of the actions of firefighters.
The report claims that a probe used by firefighters to break through some sand above the two-year-old hit the toddler’s head, causing his death.
However, local media say that if the final autopsy confirms the preliminary findings then Serrano’s defence will be proved wrong as the injury was to the left side of the boy’s head and not the top where the probe would have hit him. The final autopsy report will confirm whether or not the tot died on the same day.
The Spanish Civil Guard explained in a report on ‘Operation Rabe’ that the plug of sand which formed above the boy’s head had been caused both by his fall and by the initial attempts to rescue him.
Julen fell down the well to a depth of around 73 metres (239 feet) and remained there for 13 days before his body was brought to the surface.
Serrano has pleaded not guilty and says he never thought a child could fall down the narrow ‘well’, technically a borehole. The landowner claimed he had placed two concrete bricks at the entrance of the well to try and prevent anyone from stepping in it.
The trial is ongoing.
