Abigail Hay’s family hasn’t been able to sleep for six months. The 30-year-old girl was arrested by Salina Cruz police in Oaxaca last August and found dead in police custody. Six months later and after a irregular trial, the family say they have lost all hope of justice and they are devoting their efforts to regaining custody of one of the victim’s children at the hands of their ex-partner. who was reported in 2021 for domestic violence.
Both the city police and the prosecutor’s office maintain the version that Abigail committed suicide in the police station wearing her own underwear without anyone seeing anything. However, her family rejects this version and accuses the agents of excessive use of force, which ultimately led to the girl’s death. Video from the commando’s surveillance cameras shared by the family shows the young woman being taken into custody and being beaten and pushed by up to four agents.
Despite the images and the fateful event, no Salina Cruz police officer involved in the arrest has been linked to the trial. Judge Guillermo Martín Martínez Maldonado, who is investigating the case, linked the judge in charge and the police chief as accused of the crime of manslaughter. The first for ordering access to Abigail’s separate rooms, and the second for being the leader of the town’s squad. However, the judge decided to change the precautionary measures so that the detainees could continue their trial in freedom. “Abigail’s family fears reprisals from these two officials who have power and influence in the city,” said Yésica Sánchez Maya, a lawyer for the Consorcio Oaxaca and legal counsel for the relatives. Six months after the young woman’s death, there is still no date for the start of the murder trial.
On August 19, 2022, a group of community agents arrested Abigail Hay on the street for an alleged argument with the father of one of her children. They took her out of her car, violently overpowered her, and put her in a police car. Everything was captured in a video that circulated on social networks. Five hours later, Hay lay dead on the floor of a cell. “I am the mother of your son,” she is heard saying in the recording. “Have dignity,” replies a police officer while holding her arms. After a few minutes, the agents manage to overpower her and send her on patrol along with her former partner, Kleiver ‘N’. Only she is arrested, the man is released despite being charged with physical and psychological abuse. “The public prosecutor denied the seriousness of this complaint,” says Yésica González. The investigations into this folder have been in a drawer for years.
As if that wasn’t enough, in addition to the criminal case, the Hay family are fighting in court to retain custody of their underage son, and they denounce that the man took advantage of the moment she was imprisoned to get the child gain weight. “Since then she has not seen her grandparents, her aunt and her brother,” says the lawyer. “This child is at risk because he’s living with his mother’s aggressor,” notes González. However, the law allows the minor to stay with the father despite a complaint of domestic violence.
After the recent events and with utter hopelessness in the criminal case for manslaughter, the child’s grandparents and aunt complain that there is still no date for the custody trial. “What I urgently need is to get my grandson back,” says Mr. José Luis Hay. “Somehow the family feels that getting the child back is the only way to do justice to Abigail,” says the attorney. “They have lost hope that those directly responsible will be brought to justice,” he stresses.
The death of Abigail Hay reveals a long chain of errors and impunity, and a process of prejudice and complicity in which there is no gender perspective. For example, the young woman’s obituary states that she died on the “public highway” and not in a police cell, as actually happened. As in so many other cases, authorities are overwhelmed by the violence endured by women in Mexico, and victims’ complaints are filed or dismissed. Meanwhile, the families of the murdered face an obstacle course on which there is no justice and discrimination by the institutions is palpable.
Abigail Hay’s death is reminiscent of the case of Dr. Beatriz Hernández in Hidalgo in 2021. The Municipal Police of Progreso de Obregón arrested the doctor who was found dead two hours later in a cell with signs of violence. Authorities also said he committed suicide.
Other recent cases are that of Luz Raquel Padilla, who, according to the Jalisco prosecutor’s office, set herself on fire, or that of Yolanda Martínez, who, according to the Nuevo León authorities, took her own life by drinking poison. In all cases, authorities hid under the presumption of suicide, although figures on sexist violence and police abuse suggest otherwise. The murder of Lesvy Berlín Rivera Osorio, one of the country’s most notorious woman killers, was also initially portrayed as a suicide: He hanged himself with a telephone booth cable, authorities said, a version that was rejected after the court verified that it was from her partner was murdered.
According to statistics, 95% of all crimes in Mexico go unsolved and it is not known exactly how many people have died as a result of police brutality in the country.
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