Convicted child killer sentenced to life

THE woman found guilty of murdering eight-year old Gabriel Cruz has got life.
On Monday the Almeria Provincial Court sentenced Ana Julia Quesada to a maximum permanent reviewable prison sentence for killing Gabriel in Cabo de Gata in Almeria in February last year with the aggravating circumstance of a family relationship with the little boy.
Quesada is the first women to be sentenced to serving life with a possibility of parole after a minimum fixed term since the punishment was introduced into Spanish Law in 2015.
The court also sentenced the 45-year old Dominican to three years behind bars for psychological injuries to Gabriel’s father Angel Cruz, with whom she was in a relationship at the time of the youngster’s death, and two years and nine months for psychological injuries to his mother Patricia Ramirez.
In addition, the sentence orders Quesada to pay €250,000 to each parent in moral damages and bans her from living in or visiting Nijar or the parents’ homes for 30 years and from going within 500 metres of either Angel or Patricia.
She will also have to pay the just over €200,000 cost to the state of the 12-day search operation launched to find the little lad following his disappearance from close to his grandmother’s house in Las Hortichuelas.
Last month a jury unanimously decided Quesada was guilty of “voluntarily taking the life” of Gabriel, “unexpectedly and without the possibility of the minor defending himself or reacting” following a nine-day trial and more than 24 hours of deliberations.