Costa Rica News – I am not a judge nor was I at this trial but it seems to me that there need to be some serious fixes mae to the Costa Rica legal system if they expect people to actually start following laws. A woman was repeatedly accused of abusing her son in 2009 when he was 3 years old and now 4 YEARS LATER, she was acquitted.
So after being accused of abusing her son, the child remained in her custody for 4 more years during this long drawn out trial. The OJ Simpson trial did not even take that long. We are not talking about a large corporation throwing money at a court case so that the plaintiff runs out of money because of the costs, we are talking about a child abuse case.
A woman, surnamed Barillas, who was accused of burning her child with an iron, was acquitted of all penalties and liability after the child declared he not recall being assaulted. So she had 4 years to convince him that this did not happen and for the wounds to go away, other than the mental wounds that will remain there for the rest of his life.
The child, who is now 7 years old, said he is maintaining a good relationship with his mother now.
The resolution was passed yesterday by the Trial Court of San Carlos, Alajuela.
The prosecution alleged against Barillas repeatedly assaulted her son in 2009, while in their home, located in La Fortuna de San Carlos.
According to the indictment, the complaint came from two officials of the National Institute for Children (PANI)-including a psychologist, who also testified during the debate.
At that time, the child was three years old.
According to the prosecution, the mother punished her son with a belt “willful and unjustified”, which caused him to have minor injuries in different parts of the body.
They also said she was responsible for an injury to the forearm of the child, caused by an iron.
However, the judge Olger Perez, head of the ruling, held that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations.
Barillas is the mother of three children.
According reasoned Judge Perez, prosecutors did not provide convincing evidence of the case. He said that the prosecution did a poor investigation.
He also stressed that the same child, in a private audience, pleaded he did not remember the assault.
After that testimony Minor Chacón, called the acquittal of the accused.
I am not saying that this woman abused her child but through doing research for this article, I can tell you this; It does not take 4 years to complete a child abuse case and you do not leave the child in the custody of the accused if there are visible bruises or wounds on the child for the 4 years while you are determining if there was abuse.
Something needs to change!
