A young woman from Mallorca was sentenced to permanent prison on a case involving the 2021 death of her two-year-old daughter in Zaragoza. The verdict also assigns the same sentence to the woman’s former live-in partner, who is the child’s father, and it names the mother’s three brothers among those found complicit. The court described the crime as murder with betrayal, cruelty, and kinship as aggravating factors. The jury highlighted the extreme suffering endured by the little girl at the hands of both defendants. Emergency services were not notified until two days after the injuries occurred. Forensic experts confirmed a pattern of 100 injuries, both new and old, as a result of months of abuse.
Mother Vanesa Muñoz Pujol, aged 31, lived in Mallorca until 2016. Her first daughter was born in Palma in December 2011, and social services quickly identified a risk to the child. After limited cooperation from the parents, the minor was declared homeless and entrusted to another family for a little over a year in July 2013. Following her departure from the island, Muñoz Pujol moved to Girona and later to Zaragoza. During this period she had three more children, with Catalan and Aragonese social services intervening in each case.
The crime occurred in January 2021 in the El Picarral district of Zaragoza. The little girl suffered a severe blow to the abdomen that damaged the duodenum and caused acute peritonitis. Her condition deteriorated over the hours, bringing severe pain and fever, but neither defendant nor the mother sought help until two days later. By then the medical team could only confirm the child’s death.
The autopsy and the National Police investigation revealed a prolonged period of abuse. Forensic findings showed 101 injuries on the body, 73 recent and 28 historic. Drugs detected in the child’s system and hundreds of messages on the suspects’ phones described the ill-treatment and punishments imposed on the girl. Investigators from Zaragoza’s Homicide Group concluded that the child experienced ongoing physical and psychological abuse with the knowledge and approval of both defendants. The couple was arrested shortly after the crime and has remained in custody.
Persecution
During the Zaragoza hearing, the mother and her partner faced accusations from one another while denying direct involvement in the abuse. The man claimed that he acted only when he was away and that the mother obscured events to protect herself. He asserted that he left the house early but only saw the child at feeding times and at bedtime. He argued that the mother failed to report the situation because she feared being implicated in the abuse.
The popular jury, however, found that both defendants intended to kill the girl. The decision noted proof of an intentional and unnecessary escalation of pain, and it classified the acts as murder with aggravating factors including treason, cruelty, and consanguinity. The permanent prison sentence was appealed to the High Court of Justice of Aragon.