A direct blow to his head sent him crashing to the ground instantly. Sergio didn’t see this coming. After the first punch, he fell to the ground unconscious. But more came. Two people got out of the car and within seconds kicked his head, making it “explode”. He was 21 years old. He arrived at the hospital without a heartbeat.
His mother, Eva, who was unaware of everything at home, learned this hours later. His son, who went to the Tropicana nightclub (Malgrat de Mar, Barcelona) with his friends in the early hours of November 22, 2015, was struggling with death in the hospital. “Nobody warned me. Not the doctors, not the police…”, he still doesn’t understand. “When I arrived at the center around noon, my son had already had two head surgeries., they had two heart attacks and had to have another surgery and remove the forehead bone,” he pauses and continues, “they froze the forehead bone and he was without it for three months. “They took him because he was going to blow his brains out.”
After six months in a coma and a year in the hospital, Sergió left the hospital. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t walk, and could barely talk. The judicial system has also been added to the struggle for life. The first is still war; The second was closed in 2020, five years after the beating. The Supreme Court approved the 5-year prison sentences of two young people who got out of the vehicle and they kicked him violently. The other attacker is The person who punched him first was sentenced to a 3-month fine for injury.
The sentence for the two young people sentenced to prison included paying 1,263,956.19 euros, including the penalty OPEN CASE accepted, but the money was Required for rehabilitation, which Social Security no longer covers, it never came.
“My son entered the hospital on November 22, 2015, and a year later, on November 11, 2016,” his mother begins. “What happened?” he continues, “Sergio doesn’t remember anything from that night… “But thanks to witnesses, friends and the investigation itself, we were able to reconstruct everything that happened.”
Beating
“Sergio was in the cloakroom…” Eva rephrases. “He was with two older children. They were leaving the building. At that moment, someone said to my son: ‘Don’t come back, there is a fight, they are hitting someone’… ‘My friends are there.’ “Well, let’s see if they will happen,” said my son. Sergio went out. “Before we got into the fight a kid punched him and my son fell unconscious, it was a knockout,” says Eva. “He didn’t get into a fight. He didn’t get there either. He didn’t have any scratches or torn clothes on him, nothing… While he was unconscious, Two kids got out of the car and started kicking him in the head.“. He was seen and unseen for “a few seconds,” but the beating was nearly fatal.
“Mom”
“We were lucky,” Eva explains. “Despite everything, despite where we are today, we were very lucky.” Sergio left the ambulance with a thread of his life. “Doctors say he came in almost dead and With any luck, the activity would be ‘vegetable’. “This… since he’s a 21-year-old kid, if he gets older, they won’t even do surgery on him.”
It was intervened many times. He was intubated with a temporary tracheostomy and fell into a long-lasting coma. It’s been six months but he woke up. He opened his eyes, but everything had changed: “he left the hospital without being able to move, I had a catheter in my stomach to eat…”, his mother stops, “I even wore a diaper“The day he was discharged after being hospitalized for a year, he said his first word: ‘mom.’
“When he fell, his skull broke open and the kicks went directly to the brain.”
“Forensic experts said Sergio would have received whatever punch he had from the first punch when he fell to the ground, but he didn’t have the injuries he had,” the woman explains to this outlet. “What it offers is irreversible, because When he fell, his skull was cracked openand the others’ kicks went straight to the brain.”
Three people attended. One sacrifice, all will return. While fighting to live trial started. “The same day in the courtroom, the boy who first punched him turned around and begged for forgiveness.” He was convicted only of wounding; His involvement in the subsequent beating has not been proven. His testimony, the testimony of the witnesses, The other two attackers, who got out of the vehicle and kicked them brutally within a few seconds, were identified.
Five years later, in 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the sentences of the other two: attempted murder, five years in prison. They were also ordered to pay damages exceeding one million euros. They declared bankruptcy in prison. The money never came.
At the same time came Social Security’s desperation: “This is what they told us. There was a certain time and certain rehabilitation sessions, and Sergio could not do more.“.
“We will only face one year of rehabilitation, nothing more.”
Eva’s tireless struggle served to get some oxygen: “The state He gave us 56,000 euros four years ago. “It helps the victim… It helped, but if they have to give me like a million, that’s not even the top, it’s not even 200,000.”
This income coming He allowed Sergio to go to the Guttmann Institute, a neurorehabilitation hospital. He learned to talk, eat and breathe. He “let go of his diaper” but still (and still) needed help, “started eating, first purees, then some solid food…”, although he was supervised at all times. There were incredible advances. For years, Sergio eased the pain by focusing on recovery.
“Money is running out,” Eva laments. “He was 21 when they gave him to us, and at that time he was paying 1,400 a month for three days a week…” he calculates, “Sergio is 29 now and about to finish it,” he laments. “We have about 12,000 euros left, we have reduced our days, only two left… Guttman we have one year left, We’ll only face one year of rehab, no more“.
Countdown
Eva has no income. Sergio needs “someone who will be there for him 24 hours a day.” No matter how hard he tries, the math doesn’t work. In addition to treatments, there are also investments in adapting the home to take care of you – although not with everything you need. On a daily basis, we also add the basic private rehabilitation, which (after the reduction of sessions) amounts to as little as 800 euros per month. “I don’t know how we can do this.”
He knocked on all the doors. The first is that of the Generalitat. “This is being worked on,” he says, “but only I requested rehabilitation“Social Security is taking over this because we don’t get compensation.”
Even though it is difficult at times, he speaks without hatred, “my son is devastated, the truth is…” but he focuses on finding a solution. “I couldn’t pay 600 thousand euros either. It’s a high amount, but that’s all.” One of the two men convicted gave me only 100 euros in eight years. I understand they can’t give everything, but since they did the damage and it’s cheap for them to get out of prison, give Sergio at least half of what you produce, right?”
Eva’s war with her other son, Kike, is completed. “He has cerebral palsy, he was diagnosed six months after birth. For example, rehabilitation didn’t work for him, but it worked for Sergio.”
Sergio, the youngest of the two but always acting as caretaker, already chooses his clothes, plays Playstation and has some autonomy, although he is dependent on all daily activities. “I don’t think he can walk alone, but he can dive into water.” The fight begins again: “I spent the little money we had to check whether their declared bankruptcy remained the same after I got out of prison.” The process is slow, tedious and Sergio is on the countdown.
Home, fight non-stop. Sergio continues to fight to live. When I was 21, everything changed direction. He was a football lover, “now,” smiles Eva, because the positive attitude is the hallmark of the house, “he now regrets it, saying he is sure he will play in the ‘Kings League’.” He insists: “All I want is for the attackers, the State, whoever they are, to At least pay attention to rehab. I want my son to go every day like all patients in this situation.” Sergio had difficulties. He had dreams. Because of the beating, the main thing now was to live.