The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez - Netflix
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| Gabriel Fernandez, a sweet eight year old boy when he died. |
The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is now streaming on Netflix, has becoming a talk of town. The heart - wrenching and mind gripping documentary left the viewers in tears.
Gabriel Fernandez was an eight year old boy when he was beaten to death by his mother, Pearl Fernandez and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirie on 22nd May 2013 and died two days later after the doctor declared he is brain dead, thus he need to be removed from life support.
How can a biological mother did this to her very own son? Why Gabriel? What he had been through before? Why no one was helping this poor kid when there were obvious signs that he was the victim of domestic abuse? What is the role of Children Welfare Department? How can everybody just bat an eye and turn deaf ears to this poor boy?
When Pearl was pregnant to Gabriel, she told her family she didn't want to keep the baby. However, the family disagree, her brother Peter, promised to take care of the baby. As soon as she had Gabriel, she called Peter to take him away from her, whining that the baby cried too much. Hence, Peter took Gabriel since he was three days old until he was four years old. Peter and his gay partner love Gabriel so much that you can see most of their pictures together with Gabriel smiling all the time. He grew up as a cute baby boy until the grandfather, Pearl's father said it is inappropriate for a gay couple to raise a kid.
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| Gabriel's uncle took care of him and he was a smiler when he's with him |
He then took Gabriel with him and had him until he was 8 months before his death. Then, Pearl took Gabriel, saying he should be raised together with his other siblings, Ezequiel and Virginia. Three of them are from the same parents and Gabriel is the youngest. The grandparents had to give him to her as there was no proper documentation of Gabriel, thus it is difficult to fight Pearl's right as a biological mother. Peter could not do anything because they were reported to sexually abuse Gabriel. Thus they were sent to Mexico.
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| Sadis mother, Pearl Fernandez and her evil boyfriend, Isauro Agurrie |
The family believe Pearl decided to take Gabriel as he received additional welfare from government.
From the moment his mother took him to live with her, Gabriel was living in a hell. He was constantly abused mentally, physically by Pearl and Isauro. Just imagine, Isauro is a well developed man with 6 feet tall and 270 pound man.
Abuse
1. Gabriel was kept in a small box in their room. His hands were handcuffed, mouth was gagged with socks and they covered his face with bandana. He was kept in the box every night and most of the day. He pee and poo in the box and Isauro would force him to clean up himself.
2. Pearl shot him with bb gun at his groin, his genitals and his chest.
3. Isauro knocked his teeth with baseball bat.
4. He was denied access to food and toilet.
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| Marks on Gabriel's body that is documented. |
5. Pearl punched his eyes.
6. They put out burn cigarettes all over his bodies.
7. Isauro hit him at face 10 times and body 20 times.
8. Gabrial was forced to eat cat litter by Isauro.
9. He was forced to take cold bath while Isauro sprayed him with pepper spray in the bath tub
10. He had to eat his vomit if he threw up.
12. There were evidence the couple forced Gabriel to put on girls clothes while his clothes were hidden in a cupboard.
12. There were evidence the couple forced Gabriel to put on girls clothes while his clothes were hidden in a cupboard.
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| Gabriel was in cardiac arrest when he was sent to the hospital |
Nurses and pathologist made appearances to the court for testimonies. The pathologist mentioned that he sees the case is rare as he took two days to document all the abuse marks. These are just some of the findings that I remember,
1. His skull is dented and it is in consistency with Rice Krispies.
2. His genitals was in weird shape as if it has been cut
3. There were several bb gun pellets in his body.
4. There was burn marks at his palm
5. Some skin was missing at his neck.
6. Bruises, abrasions, fresh wounds, scars were all over his body
7. His thymus gland was approximately not more than 10 grams while normal kids would have it 90 grams and more than 100 grams. It indicates that he has suffered mental and physical abuse for a long period.
8. They discovered grey particles in his stomach that when it is tested, it is identical to the cat litter particles.
9. His body has amost zero fats.
10. He had three broken ribs that it can cause a huge amount of pain even just with breathing.
Gabriel Cried For Help
There were several attempts that Gabriel did to tell people around him that he was abused.
Teacher
He went to school with swollen body here and there and red eyes. There was one time he only had patches of hair, and there were fresh cuts and old scars all over his body. He once asked his teacher, Jennifer Garcia, is it okay if a mother hits her child? Is it okay if she hits me with the belt buckle? Is it okay she did that until I bleed? The teacher then called social services regarding the case. Jennifer was informed a social worker named Stefanie Rodriguez was assigned to his case.
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| Gabriel's teacher, Jennifer Garcia recalled at the court, her conversation with Gabriel |
However, things were getting worse when Gabriel came to the school with the worst condition. Jennifer asked him what happened. He said he fell, but when the teacher said do not lie. Gabriel started to get mad and told her "my mother shot my face with bb gun!" . Jennifer asked him why he lied earlier, he replied "because when the lady (social worker) came to our house, my mother would hit me more."
Jennifer than reached her superior on Gabriel's case. Unfortunately, he said, "we only can report, we do not investigate."
Grandfather
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| Robert Fernandez took a stand at court and could not hold his tears |
Robert Fernandez testimonied to the court. Gabriel used to call him once when he was at the store, telling him he wanted to live with him. He told Gabriel he could not take him now because his case is under Department Child and Family Services (DCFS). But he will take him once everything is settled. And the promise can never be kept.
Social Workers - DCFS
There were several occasion that the social workers visited Pearl's apartment. Stefanie who was assigned to the case unfortunately just took Pearl's words that he just a pampered child. He is rude to his teacher and often acting out. Pearl also justified all the marks on his body was because he got hit by other boys. There were no further
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| Stefanie Rodriguez, one of the social workers who were faced 10 years prison but then the case was eventually dismissed |
LA Sheriff
The sheriff came to the house too on Gabriel's case. Like the social worker, they just took the couple's words. In fact, Isauro invited the sheriff to visit again next morning, threatening the poor kid to not make false reports. And he did. The sheriff put Gabriel in his police car and told him not to do any false reports again or else 'you are the one whom I will put in jail'.
Security Guard
Arturo Miranda Martinez recalled in the documentary when he saw Pearl who he described as heavily tattoed came into the welfare department with her children. His eyes caught Gabriel's figure in which he described,
" All of a sudden I noticed the boy and all the back of his head had a bunch of cigarette burns "
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| Martinez revealed when Gabriel grabbed his hand and showed his wounds |
"Some were small, some were wider, some were fresh, some were healing, then I noticed around his eyes he had purple greenish bruises.
"I'm like, wow, he's all beat up. From a scale from 1 to 10, he was a 20.
"At that point Gabriel starts walking by and he rubs past my desk, and goes like this [holds up his arm in his other hand], and he looks at me with the corner of his eye, and at that point my heart dropped, like Oh My God."
Martinez then talked to Corona, the clerk whom Pearl was speaking to. They discussed about what they saw and Corona called her supervisor but her supervisor insisted for her not to interfere. Corona then went against the protocol when she gave the details of Fernandez to Martinez and asked him to help Gabriel.
Martinez then called his supervisor, and similar to Corona's, he was told not to intervene. Risking his job, then he called 911 as the last resort. But the child still had not removed from the house. Gabriel died 29 days later.
22 May 2013
Gabriel was playing with his sister, Virginia in her room when Pearl came home. She then started to hit Gabriel and punch him. Then Isauro came home, he was then told by Pearl that Gabriel wanted her to leave him. Isauro then hit him. Gabriel tried to defend himself, saying his mother lied. But it did not end there, instead it was becoming worse. Pearl and Isauro then dragged him into the bathroom and locked the door. Virginia and Ezequiel then heard a series of bang from the bathroom. Isauro then told Ezequiel that he need to tell the police or any person that Gabriel had cardiac arrest when he played wrestling with Ezequiel. 
The couple then called 911 and reported that Gabriel was not breathing. Firefighters rushed to the incident and found the boy was naked, laying on the floor. There was blood everywhere, and they noticed a shirt soaked with blood. The boy was not breathing but he still had pulse. They rushed to the emergency with code three. The doctors and the nurses were ready to have a thorough check up on him, but then it was difficult to do so since Gabriel's condition was so critical. They decided to do CT scan to him, but when he was about to do the test, Gabriel was losing his pulse, and that was when the team did ressurection towards him. He was in coma for two days and died later after the doctor declared that he was brain dead. |
| The card was still on his desk at school the moment he was declared dead by the doctor |
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| This little boy wants nothing except love from his own mother |
Pearl Fernandez now is serving a life sentence in Chowchilla State Women's Prison in California without parole. Her original death sentence is reduced due to her low iq and several disorders that she suffers from.
Meanwhile, Isauro Aguirre is sentenced to death and now waiting his execution death date at the San Quentin State Prison.
This brutal case highlights the incompetence of the important organizations in handling their responsibility. This boy had numerous chances to be saved, in fact he had shown plethora of signs that he had been abused for a long time. Unfortunately, no one was willing to step in to help this poor boy until he was pronounced to be dead after eight months of abuse. The system has failed Gabriel. DCFS, Sherrifs, supervisors and headmasters, they are all should be held accountable for this death.
Before the judge sentenced the couple, he made a brief comment on the case saying 'I hope you think about the pain you caused this child and that it tortures you.'
Rest in peace little one.
I am so happy knowing you are no longer hurt.
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