At just two years old, little Laia suffered a living hell. For months, her mother and stepfather inflicted severe punishments on her, such as making her eat chillies or hanging her from a hook two meters above the ground, they administered drugs and "beat her with sticks" - in the words of the coroner - until one of them It burst her duodenum and caused peritonitis that killed her in severe pain and without medical assistance. Almost three years later, the Zaragoza Court has sentenced them both to permanent, reviewable prison for her murder, with the aggravating circumstances of treachery and cruelty.
In its ruling, the court bases its decision on the verdict of the popular jury in charge of the case, which unanimously considered the girl's mother, Vanesa Muñoz Pujol, 31, and her stepfather, Cristian Lastanao Valenilla, 36, as directly responsible for Laia's death based on the testimony of the witnesses and the forensic report.
This report, which the court considers “determinant” in its sentence, established that one of the countless blows suffered by the girl over time burst her duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine and connects to the stomach. This caused infectious peritonitis that caused a painful, prolonged and agonizing death in just 48 hours.
The jury also evaluated the testimonies of the witnesses who treated the minor after her parents called the 112 emergency service. According to their statements, the girl could have died some time before the arrival of the emergency doctors.
During the trial, the defendants blamed each other for the fatal outcome. However, the popular court considered it accredited by a majority that, with the blows they inflicted on the minor, both wanted to cause her tragic death, recorded on January 20, 2021 in her home in the Zaragoza neighborhood of Picarral, where she lived with her other three Older brothers.
According to the evidence carried out, the jury was able to learn that the child was not only forced to eat foods that were harmful to her health such as chili peppers as punishment, but that she was also administered substances such as cocaine and cannabis. paracetamol, antidepressants and hypnotics for at least six months prior to the date of her death.
Another example of the mistreatment she suffered was provided by the Police by showing a WhatsApp conversation in which Cristian sends a photo to Vanesa in which the girl appears hanging on a hook on the wall two meters high as a punishment. . “The expression of panic and horror on her face is terrible,” the agent said. For the Police, no less horrendous was the conversation that the couple had then. If Lastanao wrote next to the image “jijiji, for crying out loud,” her mother responded with “hahaha,” before starting to talk about who had to go buy potatoes.
For its part, the autopsy performed on the body detected a total of 101 injuries on a body weighing just 15 kilos: 73 recent and 28 old spread across the skull, face, thorax, abdomen, extremities... "All of them occurred in the family home," pick up the writing. None of the specialists who evaluated the accused detected any disability or personality disorder in them, and they assure that they were capable of assessing the legality of their actions.
In addition to the sentence to permanent, reviewable prison, the fourth time this sentence has been handed down in the community of Aragón, the court sentences the accused to compensate the biological father of the minor and her grandmother, as well as the girl's two brothers. to a total of 280,000 euros.
