This Tuesday, the Court of Setúbal will host the fifth trial in the case of five people accused of involvement in the murder of Jessica, a three-year-old girl who was killed last June.
Several witnesses will be heard, including a medical examiner who will talk about the girl’s autopsy. The report says more than a hundred injuries on the child’s body.
Among the defendants in the case are Ines Sanchez, the girl’s mother, Tita, Jessica’s nanny, Justo, Eduardo and Esmeralda, Tita’s husband and children, respectively.
The meeting was supposed to start at 9:30, but was postponed to 11:00 due to a strike by court workers.
in a minute
Updated July 4, 2023 | 18:29
Jessica could have been left blind and physically injured for life if she survived.
The expert explains the injuries on the girl’s body and what could have caused them, while all the photos are analyzed.
He also explains that there are injuries with different dates, within 4/5 days, when the girl was in the house of the Montez family.
“If I am treated, I will never be able to see again and will be bodily injured for the rest of my life.“, he decided.
“Medicine could try to make her alive, but the consequences would be very serious. It was almost impossible for her to survive, ”the expert assured.
coordinator Legal Medical Office of Setúbal admitted that the injuries to the girl’s ears could have been inflicted with pliers and scissors.
When asked about the extent of the pain that the girl experienced, the expert replies that it was “the maximum possible pain.”
Complete expert opinion
“The child has a defense injury”: Jessica tried to defend herself from aggression
The referee tries to figure out when each of the injuries occurred, while the expert continues his statements.
“He was hospitalized at 16:20. He died at 4:27 pm,” he said.
“There are a lot of injuries on the knees. I don’t know what part of her body was grabbed to throw her against the wall,” the expert said, also noting that Jessica “never hit her head.”
“The child has injuries during the defense, he has injuries to his right hand. Defensively, she raised her hand in front of her.“
Speaking of a child’s nose burn, the expert said that “judging by the appearance of the burn, it was not a fire, but a boiling liquid.”
“It can be water, tea, milk, something boiling, it’s a second-degree burn,” he added.
During his testimony, the expert mentioned that traces of cocaine were also found. “The child was clearly in a place where there was cocaine. He may have inhaled smoke,” he said.
Speaking about strands of hair torn from a child, the expert said that at that time Jessica was already “dying”, and “the body was bankrupt.”
According to the expert, the girl also had multiple injuries on her ears that were “strongly tugging” and “several nail marks.”
“One thing is certain, besides the fact that he has several injuries, the most serious of them is on his head. It hit him with a neck whip,” he concluded.
The girl also had a “traumatic pubic injury.”
Jessica’s mother cries compulsively and leaves the courtroom.
Jessica’s mother, Inez Sanchez, cries compulsively.
The judge asks if he’s all right and wants to leave. Inez leaves the courtroom in tears.
“Looks like a child’s head was played with a ball”: the expert spoke in court about the autopsy of Jessica
The expert continues his testimony and states that “the impact on a hard surface was so strong that an internal hematoma occurred.”
“The child was shaking in every way. Just shaking could lead to death, but here everything is, and shaking, and injury, and much more, ”he assured.
“There are injuries everywhere,” the expert added.
“Looks like they were playing ball with a child’s head. The child was thrown either against the wall or on the floor,” he said.
“This is a three-year-old child, he developed, the skull is not the same as in adults, it has much more water. When a child is shaken, the brain also shakes, and traumatic injuries occur,” the coordinator explained. Legal Medical Directorate of Setúbal.
“A child has been severely abused. I could be hurt for the rest of my life.”
The expert warns that “do not shake the children” because “these traumatic injuries are very serious.”
“Swelling means the brain was walking around inside the head. These eyes also moved back and forth, ”explained the expert.
The coordinator adds that if Jessica were to fall, she would only bleed in one eye, while the baby “in both.”
The girl also had “traumatic injuries from spanking” and “some kind of embossed object hit her on her legs and palms.”
The girl had “several injuries modeled by some kind of object”, “The injuries were probably inflicted with a baton,” he said.
‘Injuries visible to the naked eye’: Expert claims Jessica’s death was due to shaking
The head of the forensic service, coordinator of the Setúbal forensics since 2011, begins his speech.
“Under the circumstances, I could have asked for a video conference, but due to the severity of the situation, I had to be here,” he begins.
When asked by the judge about what killed Jessica, the expert claims it was shaking.
“Undoubtedly, this is the fact that the child was shaken and thrown dozens of times on a hard surface. shaking baby syndrome: someone in a barbaric form grabbed the child and shook it hard,” he said.
“For a child to be injured, two to four shaking per second for 5-15 seconds is enough,” he explains.
“There were internal and external traumatic injuries visible to the naked eye.. There were bruises on both sides of the skull, ”the expert said.
The judge shows the photos for the expert to explain what happened.
“We see the corpse from the outside, and therefore all the damage here is not very noticeable, when the scalp is removed, they are much more visible,” the expert assures.
“How did it happen that the child was thrown against the wall and he does not have broken bones,” the judge asks.
“When we extract a skull, we divide it into three parts for analysis. The injuries are more internal, we almost don’t see external ones, ”the expert explained, also referring to the fact that there are“ other traumatic injuries ”.
“There are several wounds that resulted in death. The head, the meninges and the brain, ”said the specialist.
On the head “there are several injuries, more than seven centimeters”admitted.
“To see these injuries, we had to remove the scalp. As soon as I began to see the child, I tried to find out what caused the injuries, because it was a brutal murder, ”he said.
The expert assured that “everything that was possible in scientific terms has been done so that the conclusions are not in doubt.”
The witness has already been threatened twice
A witness begins to be heard, who claims that he has already been threatened twice. He says he won’t lie, but remains silent. He only knows Inez and has dated Jessica.
The witness’s mother was close to Alice. [dona da casa onde vivia Inês Sanches com Paulo].
“I saw Jessica a few weeks before her death,” he assured.
Tita’s lawyer wants to petition for an interrogation of the mother of the witness.
The second part of the trial lesson begins
Jessica’s mother’s lawyer says defendant ‘ready to answer for anything’
End of the first part of the trial session
The session will resume at 14:00.
Witch Tita bought two liters of bleach the day Jessica died.
A second witness, who owns a grocery store, begins to testify. He knows all the defendants by sight.
“I remember the day the girl died because there were cops outside my door,” he begins.
“I only know that the old lady [Tita] went to my grocery store to buy a bottle of bleach. It was the day the girl died,” the witness said.
“She never went there to buy anything, she was not my client, but that day she went there to buy bleach. It was more or less the end of the day“, He said.
“She was calm, she was not upset. Bought a two liter bleach.“, he decided.
The witness mentions that he has been at the grocery store for many years and that Tita had already bought “cakes” for her grandson, but she was not a frequent customer.
“That day I closed around 18.30, there were already security, and I found out that the girl had died. The police arrived there in the afternoon, around 17:00,” he said.
The witness also mentions that Tita bought the bleach before the police arrived.
“The girl had a bruise on her face,” says the witness.
The witness begins to testify.
The woman had a clothing store, she knows Inez [mãe da criança] and knew Jessica. “The last time I saw Ines, I was with Tita, Esmeralda and a girl,” he said.
“It was the day the girl was admitted to the hospital. Ines held the girl wrapped in a blanket, and two women looked at her face,” he added.
The witness claims that he could not see the face of the child. “I just realized that the girl was covered. I thought it was a little strange, because the girl was very busy, and it was 9 in the morning, ”he assured.
“That was the day I found out that the girl had died,” the witness said.
The woman also ensures that she didn’t have a “big connection” with Ines and that she was just her client.
“I remember a girl walking to the store with her mother. Inez went to pick up the order. This was about three weeks before it happened. At that moment, the girl had a bruise on her face.. I asked, but Ines said that the girl fell, he assured.
An eyewitness saw Esmeralda and Tita handing over the baby girl Ines in Quebedo Park in Setúbal.
The judge is trying to figure out where the witness saw the defendants with the girl.
“They were talking, but they weren’t arguing or laughing. All three were completely motionless, they were talking normally, they were normal,” the witness said.
“There was nothing suspicious there, it just seemed strange to me that the girl was lying. The body was completely covered with a blanket,” he repeated again.
Tita’s lawyer asks when, in her relationship with Ines and Jessica, she usually sees a girl.
“Ines always went to the store much more often in the afternoon than in the morning. It was the first time I saw them together. I didn’t know the other two ladies,” the woman said.
The deposition is over.
Trial session starts
Jessica’s mother breaks her silence and makes her first appearance in court. The judge says he wants to do the whole test and hear Ines Sanches at the end.
Author: Deborah Carvalho This Catarina Cascarrigno
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.