Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
A stepmum told a court she did not mean for her boyfriend’s son aged eight to die when she covered his mouth with her hands to “keep him quiet” when he called her “ugly”.
According to local media, defendant Ana Julia Quezada admitted to the court that she killed eight-year-old Gabriel Cruz in the municipality of Nijar in the southern Spanish province of Almeria by covering his mouth, but that his death up to 90 minutes later was unintentional.
The 45-year-old woman, from the Dominican Republic, is accused of killing her boyfriend’s son on 27th February 2018. She said they had quarrelled earlier when the child had called her “ugly” and allegedly threatened her with an axe.
The child had also allegedly said he did not want her to be with his dad, prompting Quezada to cover his mouth. She said: “I did not want to harm the child, I wanted him to be quiet. I did not want to kill the boy.
“I used both hands, the right (hand) was for sure 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 then later dug up the corpse and put it in the garage where it was found by police.
When she was arrested, Quezada claimed that she was in the process of writing letters to loved ones before intending to kill herself, according to local media.
Quezada, who has pleaded not guilty, was reportedly made to listen to a phone call where she calls the boy’s mother “a b*tch and a bad person” before admitting later that she never had “any problem” with her.
According to the family’s lawyer Fernando Torres, the young boy was still alive for between 45 and 90 minutes after allegedly being smothered by the defendant. it is unclear whether she had her hands over his mouth in that time, or whether he had died later as a result of the suffocation earlier.
The trial continues this week, with the victim’s parents, father Angel Cruz and mother Patricia Ramirez, expected to take the stand.
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