The Mossos want to review the movements of the abused baby's parents with the positioning of the mobiles

BarcelonaThe judicial investigation into the case of the baby from Barcelona who was admitted to the ICU at five weeks old with signs of severe abuse and sexual assault, allegedly at the hands of his parents, is nearing its end. This Wednesday, a nurse from Sant Joan de Déu and several workers from the Hospital del Mar testified in court; they had attended to the minor a few days before he was hospitalized, when he still had no evident injuries. In fact, all the professionals agreed that they did not suspect any abuse, as a pediatrician and a nurse from the CAP Roger de Flor had already explained. In parallel, the Mossos d'Esquadra have proposed to the court to analyze the geolocation of the mobile phones of the two suspects, both the father and the mother, in the days before the child's hospital admission. The injuries are being investigated as an attempted homicide because they posed a risk to the child's life.

Defense sources are confident that this police request can help them prove that the man and the woman were not together at all times. It is the same line argued by the woman's defense, who already claimed that as a mother she could not "control" everything the man did. In fact, the mother's defense – different from the father's – asserts that she often went out to do the shopping or stretch her legs on medical advice after the birth. In contrast, Prosecutor's Office sources point out that the couple lived together and that, therefore, either of them could have detected the child's serious injuries, even if they had occurred while one of them was not at home. In any case, the positioning of the mobile phones will only be able to provide the investigation with which telephone antenna the mobile devices were connected to, and a single antenna can cover a neighborhood or several city blocks.

The woman's internet history already shows that she was concerned about how the man treated the baby, with searches like "My partner cannot stand the baby". Furthermore, she confessed to two work friends that she was considering kicking the man out of the house because he was not taking good care of the child. However, before the judge, she denied having intervened in any assault or having seen her husband abuse the baby. She said this in a statement she made at her own request after being released on provisional liberty.

The father, on the other hand, remains in provisional prison since his arrest on March 18th. Since then, he has not spoken to the judge again. Now he has requested to testify again and this Thursday, six months later, he will be transferred from Brians 1 prison to the court to provide explanations. Until now, neither of them has incriminated the other, even though they have different defenses and the wife did distance herself from her husband in her last statement. Throughout these six months, neither of them has visited the child, who remains with a foster family, nor have they had contact with each other, according to the defense.

Testimony of the healthcare workers

The judge is also waiting to receive the psychological reports of the two suspects, and this Thursday he will hear the last witnesses scheduled so far in the investigation. They are a doctor from the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, the brother-in-law of the female suspect and a cousin who is a primary care doctor and whom they consulted about the child's health status. With her, they spoke about the anal fissures the baby had, which none of the healthcare workers who have testified so far had been alerted about. Those who have testified this Wednesday have agreed that they did not see anything relevant or that would make them suspect mistreatment, nor any inappropriate or aggressive attitude from the parents.

One of the reasons that led the family to the consultation was a hematoma on the baby's scrotum, which the defense teams suggest could be related to a bag that had been placed on him to perform a urine analysis. However, the healthcare workers have ruled out that it could have caused it. The testimonies of the healthcare workers who have testified in the case have also clarified that the injuries the child had could not have been caused in a single action and, in fact, the professionals at Vall d'Hebron, where the baby was admitted, described them as the most serious anal injuries they had ever seen.