Lucio Dupuy was assassinated on November 26, 2021 in the Argentine province of La Pampa. His case shocked the country. The boy was only 5 years old and was systematically mistreated for months, until her little body couldn’t take it anymore. Those responsible for his death: Magui and Abi, her own mother and her girlfriend.
This has been determined by the Santa Rosa Court of Hearings, which has found Magdalena Espósito —25 years old— and Abigail Páez —28 — guilty. To the first, of “triple qualified homicide” for the bond, treachery and cruelty against the child. It was her parent.
To the second, to which there were no blood ties, the link was subtracted but the crime of “sexual abuse” was added, considering that it was proven that there had been “anal carnal access with a phallic object“, aggravated by being “the guardian” and by being committed to a minor, taking advantage of the fact that they lived under the same roof.
continued attacks
Undoubtedly, one of the most striking aspects of the case is that the mother had custody of the minor. Studies were not done relevant to determine which parent the child should stay with and signs missed which indicated that Lucio was not well cared for by the woman.
From December 2020 to March 2021, the child required medical assistance on at least five occasions due to polytraumatisms and cuts for which he was treated in different health centers. However, no physician denounced this situation. Neither did those responsible for the kindergarten he attended, where – by all accounts – they had to see those injuries.
Even on the social networks of the convicted, it is easy to find photographs in which the minor has bruises, casts or his arm in a sling. And the minor’s autopsy revealed that the child “He presented polytraumatisms due to blows, bites and burns, of old and recent date“.
They also found “lesions in the genital part of the child“, which already indicated that the little one could have suffered sexual abuse.”In my almost 30 years of profession I have never seen anything like this“, declared the forensic Juan Carlos Toulouse. Lucio suffered authentic aberrations while he lived with the condemned. Some omitted by the doctor -during his statement- “out of respect for the victim and his family.”
Custody of the minor
Magdalena Espósito and Christian Dupuy were young parents, perhaps too young. They were 19 and 22 years old respectively. Their relationship did not prosper and they separated in 2018. According to local media reports, she he was not happy with his “conventional” life in Luján —where he lived with Lucio’s father. She separated and moved to Santa Rosa.
For a time she did not have a fixed residence, so she left the little one with her paternal grandparents while she dedicated herself to traveling from one place to another with her new partner —Abigail—. Lucio was only two years old and she lived “like a backpacker“Her father’s brother convinced her that she would be better off living at home, with more stability.
She agreed and gave him her guardianship. For a time, the minor lived with his uncle Maximiliano and his family (his wife and his daughters). However, in early 2020 a sudden interest arose to get the child back. The paternal family believes that because her ex-partner had obtained a good job and was seeking financial compensation.
The grandparents assure that she he charged them 3,000 pesos (around 15 euros) when they wanted to talk with his grandson by video call. They consider that she never had a real interest in being with the child. His life with Abigail was summed up as: sex, drugs and alcohol. Inexplicably, a judge removed guardianship from paternal family to return it to the mother in August 2020.
The small it was an impediment for the couple. This is reflected in some of the comments that both Magdalena and Abigail posted on their social networks, and also many of the WhatsApp conversations they had and that came out during the trial. chats in which openly talk about physical punishment that they gave him and the need to hide the marks so as not to seek trouble.
DON’T HAVE CHILDREN IF YOU REALLY DON’T WANT IT OR PLAN IT AS A GREAT GOAL OR AS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIVES!!
DON’T BRING PIBES TO THE WORLD TO SUFFER THE SHELL OF YOUR FUCKING MOTHER— Abi (@AbigailPaez26) October 15, 2021
Lucio’s murder
The autopsy determined that Lucio died as a result of “a internal bleeding and multiple trauma caused by the blows he received”, including a skull fracture and two broken ribs. But also that the minor “had a strong blow that affected his hip, buttocks and leg, with a date of 7 or 8 days” .
On the day of the events, the child’s mother —according to what she declared— had left her son in the care of her partner. She said goodbye to him and warned him that she should behave well because he was going to stay alone for a while. Abigail, she announced, was going to take her to work and then come back. That’s how it went.
When his girlfriend came back home, the little boy “was sending a snot (behaving badly)” and —she herself admitted during the trial— he hit him. “I took him by the arm and I kicked him several times on the tail. It was all very fast, I don’t know. I hit him and I didn’t measure where, really.”
The boy lost consciousness, she tried to revive him and took him to a medical center, but it was closed. A neighbor who saw the scene took them to the Evita Hospital in Santa Rosa, where they left him for dead. They couldn’t do anything for him. The couple initially said that a thief entered at his home and had beaten the minor.
But nobody liked that version, as stated by several health workers and two police officers during the trial. The couple had no choice but to change their account of the events. And the court has found them guilty. The penalty will be known next Monday, February 13th. But, given the seriousness of the crimes for which they have been sentenced, everything indicates that they will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
The impact of the case
The murder of the little boy has been a shock to Argentine society. Congress has unanimously approved a bill that aims to create a “Federal Training Plan” for public officials on children’s rights, to combat child abuse. The known as pike law It must now go through the process in the Senate.
On this occasion, the politicians are in tune with their people. Lucio’s case has shaken an entire nation. Dozens of initiatives have flooded platforms such as Chenge.org, demanding justice for the little one. Among them that of Graciela Mosquedaa doctor from Buenos Aires who has achieved the support of more than 150,000 people. He is not from the family environment, he never even traveled to La Pampa. But she felt that he had to do something.
As he has recounted in statements to digital freedom, she was driven by “horror and indignation” that she found out that Lucio had gone to health centers many times suffering from different injuries, having been beaten, “without so many alarms having been heard.” “This ending was predictable and avoidable“, sentence, “but nobody did anything”.
The purpose of his request is “to investigate and punish the chain of responsible for this aberration“.
She cites —among others— the workers of the “second home (the school or the kindergarten) where there are other people in charge of caring for and guiding a child”, also the judge who “removed the guardianship of the uncles to hand it over to them to the mother” and of course “to the doctors involved in this repeated visit to the health centers”.
“being a doctor I can’t help but feel ashamed in the face of the inaction of all those professionals, in quotes, who had in their hands the possibility of helping him. They had the possibility, in addition to the obligation, to save his life, “he points out. Nothing can be done for Lucio anymore, but —he remembers—”there are many other pikes that are still alive“.