Abigail Paéz and Magdalena Espósito Valenti after their arrest for the murder of the child Lucio Dupuy.RR.SS.
Argentine Magdalena Espósito Valenti beat her five-year-old son Lucio Dupuy to death. He did it with his girlfriend Abigail Páez. She was found guilty of the crime of aggravated manslaughter by the La Pampa, Santa Rosa province, hearing court on Thursday. Paéz was also found guilty of sexually abusing the child. The verdict for the crime, which has shocked the whole of Argentina, will be announced on February 13, although both are expected to face life imprisonment.
Dupuy was murdered on November 26, 2021, but the beatings began long before that, with no public alarm or intervention. Between December 2020 and March 2021, the boy was taken to the emergency departments of various medical centers five times for a broken wrist, trauma to his fingers and a laceration to his chin. His fragile body could not withstand the final blows. He died from internal bleeding and multiple injuries from beatings, including a fractured skull and two fractured ribs. The autopsy also revealed burn, bite, and abuse marks.
The court declared the mother the material author of Lucio Dupuy’s “murder thrice qualified by cruelty, treason and association” but acquitted her of sexual abuse. The judges understood that his partner was the material author of the “murder qualified by cruelty and treason and by seriously outrageous sexual abuse” of the minor.
When the verdict was heard, the victim’s father and paternal grandfather, Cristian and Ramón Dupuy, embraced. “I am satisfied with the blame given to them. Both are responsible. We’ll have to wait for the verdict to be given weight,” Ramón said. “We’re relatively satisfied. Criminal liability issues, we want to see the basics. But the important thing is that I let go of his hand and Lucio rests in peace,” was the first Response from the family lawyer, José María Aguerrido.
years of agony
Dupuy’s situation worsened following his parents’ separation, leaving him in the middle of a long and contentious court case that awarded custody first to the father’s family and then to the mother in 2019. He was three years old then.
After Dupuy’s death, the judge who gave ownership to Espósito Valenti was denounced for “failure to fulfill the duties of a public official” for failing to see the signs of abuse the child was showing. The father, Cristian Dupuy, had reported that his son had suffered physical and psychological violence, but the judge nevertheless gave custody to the mother. The father’s family also interviewed the doctors who treated him in the emergency room and at the day care center he attended.
As a result of this case, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved the project known as “Lucio’s Law,” which establishes a training curriculum on the rights of minors, with a particular focus on those who work with children, “to identify if a boy is a victim of the abuse.
The law, which still needs to be approved by the Senate before final sanctions are passed, also allows staff at educational and healthcare facilities to anonymously report violations of minors’ rights to children’s rights. So far, those who denounce have faced possible reprisals such as threats or attacks, and others are reluctant to do so for fear of them.
Government spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti warned in her morning press conference that a “cultural change” in society and especially in the judiciary is necessary so that similar cases do not repeat themselves. “Many mechanisms have failed. Justice has failed,” Cerruti warned. A crowd has gathered outside the courts to support the family and call for the Lucio Law to be sanctioned, while numerous politicians and celebrities have taken to social media to support the court’s guilty verdict.
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