The Barcelona Court releases the mother of the mistreated baby and keeps the father in prison

BarcelonaThe Barcelona Court of Appeal has released the mother of the baby allegedly mistreated and sexually assaulted by her parents on bail, and keeps the father in provisional prison. Both, who are defending themselves separately, had asked to be able to await trial in freedom, while the Generalitat and the Prosecutor's Office for violence against children had asked that they remain in prison, where they entered on March 20.

The court considers that as the investigation has progressed, the evidence against the woman has weakened, but even so, they leave the door open for her to be charged with mistreatment in a "commission by omission". In fact, as the ARA explained, part of the woman's defense strategy has been to distance herself from the father's actions, alleging that she could not control everything he did. The woman will be released from Wad-Ras prison in Barcelona in the coming hours, and while the case is being investigated, she will be prohibited from leaving the country and will have a restraining order from the minor, who is now under the guardianship of the Generalitat and with a foster family after being hospitalized for a month.

The court assumes the risk that the woman "may contaminate" the testimonies in the case that are people from her environment, as the accusers warn, but believes that the lack of evidence against her does not justify keeping her imprisoned. In contrast, in the case of the man, the court does see "solid evidence" of a crime of habitual mistreatment and one or more crimes of injury. The three magistrates who have resolved the appeals admit that the evidence for a sexual assault charge is "more doubtful" for now, but sufficient to keep the man in provisional prison.

Indeed, the main evidence so far are the medical reports on the baby, also those from the five visits prior to the couple's arrest. During these visits, new bruises were already detected, and in the evaluations of the child, multiple fractures have been found at different stages of development that forensic experts describe as "non-accidental," and which are located in the legs as well as the genital and anal areas. The defense has attempted to attribute an anal fissure to the child's constipation, but the prosecution denies this, appealing to the medical reports and the severity of the injuries. Despite these possible doubts, the court adds that for the rest of the injuries, there are indeed different indications pointing to the father. The child has costal and neurological injuries that "could be due to shaking or rough handling by the father." Regarding the injuries to the limbs, the police highlight what the mother told a neighbor, explaining that the man "doesn't realize how clumsy his hands are" and that on one occasion the man had grabbed the child by the legs, dragging him to bring him closer, when the child was less than a month old.

"My partner can't stand the baby"

One of the steps in the investigation has been to review the couple's mobile phones and computers. In the woman's history, they found that before the child was hospitalized, she had searched for information related to her concern about the baby's health, about the "discomfort she herself had regarding her relationship" and about the fact that the man "did not treat the baby well". She searched with the text "my partner is overwhelmed by the baby", "my partner can't stand the baby" and "my partner doesn't treat my baby well". On the same day she had done these searches, she took a photo of a bruise on the baby's cheek. She also searched, a week before the arrests, "he is not affectionate with my baby", "he gets nervous and shouts with the baby in his arms".

Among the evidence collected so far, the statement of the woman with whom she shared a room at Vall d'Hebron, who has been granted protected witness status, also carries a lot of weight. As she is a foreigner, her statement was recorded so that it can serve as evidence in the trial if she is not in the country when the time comes. This is the woman who asked hospital workers for help for the baby, with a "please help the baby", because she had seen the father treating the child roughly: he covered his mouth because he was crying, he shook him and gave him a bottle roughly. The court emphasizes that, on the other hand, this witness did not make any reference to the mother.

For all these reasons, the report that the Mossos delivered to the investigating judge concludes that "there is no information or evidence of a possible aggressive or rough nature of the mother". They also point out that once the woman understood what was happening to her son and its consequences, she has had "coherent and very expressive" reactions, as also concluded by the Generalitat's child abuse assessment team.