The jury at the trial of two people accused of the murder of a baby in Porto Cristo in November 2023 has unanimously found them guilty.
The members of the jury determined that the defendants were aware the baby was alive and caused her death. The defendants did not seek necessary medical assistance and, in addition to intending the child's death, they were the direct cause of this by throwing her into a rubbish container. Therefore, they found the new-born's mother and her brother-in-law guilty of murder.
The prosecution is seeking life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, which will be decided in the coming days. The mother's sister was found guilty of failing to provide assistance; it was proven that she did nothing to request help for the baby.
The mother, Y.M.L., handed the baby over to her brother-in-law, G.P.G., fully aware that "it was a cold November evening, seeking to cause the baby's death". Regarding the baby's aunt, R.M.L., the jury believed she failed to help the infant despite knowing she was in a situation of grave and obvious danger, and that "nothing prevented her from calling an ambulance or the police".
One of the key pieces of evidence was a call the mother made to a friend, to whom she confessed the events. She implied she had given birth to a live foetus that could not defend itself and handed it over to G.P.G., knowing that by throwing it into the rubbish container on C. Aterratge in Porto Cristo, the baby would inevitably die. In fact, the jury believed the baby died from a combination of factors, all related to being thrown into the container and suffering severe head trauma, as well as not receiving any medical assistance.
In the trial's closing statements, the prosecutor said: "I believe it was murder. Yolanda and Gustavo killed the baby; they accepted that throwing her in the bin would cause her to die. There was a hospital just 400 metres away. There was no mistake here. It's known that what was born was a baby. There was intent to kill."
The mother admitted her mistake. "I didn't know it was alive; throwing it in the rubbish was the biggest mistake of my life." The brother-in-law stated that he was driving the car and saw the woman bleeding. "I didn't want to look at what was happening out of shame. I got out of the car, and shortly afterwards, she gave me the foetus and said, 'Put this there' (referring to a container). I put her on some cardboard and shortly after we left."
The mother was not in court for the verdict. A warrant for her arrest has been issued. The brother-in-law was taken to prison after the verdict.