Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

This stepmum who suffocated her boyfriend’s eight-year-old son after he called her “ugly” has been jailed for life by a Spanish court.

Ana Julia Quezada, 45, from Dominican Republic, has been sentenced to permanent reviewable prison, the harshest punishment Spanish courts can hand to those found guilty and the equivalent of a life sentence.

She reportedly became the first woman to be sentenced to permanent reviewable prison in Spain.

Quezada killed her boyfriend’s eight-year-old son, Gabriel Cruz, on 27th February 2018 by covering his mouth with her hand in the municipality of Nijar in the southern Spanish province of Almeria.

Reports said that she was also sentenced for two counts of psychological abuse against the victim’s parents, Patricia Ramirez and Angel David Cruz, and two crimes against their moral integrity.

She also has to pay moral damages to the parents and cover the cost of the state’s 12-day search for the boy.

Quezada previously said in court: “I did not want to harm the child, I wanted him to be quiet.”

Quezada claimed that the boy approached her brandishing an axe and calling her “ugly”. When he allegedly said he did not want her to be with his dad, she covered his mouth.

She explained: “I used both hands, the right (hand) was definitely over his mouth, the left one I don’t know.

“When I let him go, I placed my hand on his chest and he wasn’t breathing.”

Reports said that the defendant then dug a hole and buried the victim’s body, but she later dug up the corpse and it was found in her car after a 12-day search.

Quezada, who was in relationship with the victim’s father Angel Cruz, even pretended to actively look for the child while he was missing.

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