Netflix's latest addition to its impressive roster of true crime documentaries, The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, has shaken viewers to their very core - with one scene in particular proving to be a talking point.
Documenting a series of depraved abuse suffered by the eight-year-old boy, the series also examines the failings of local authorities to react to reports that he was in danger.
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In the doc Gabriel's teacher Jennifer Garcia recalls the moment he told her of the violent abuse he was suffering.
A few weeks after joining her class, Gabriel asked Jennifer: "Is it normal for moms to hit their kids?"
After being pressed to explain what he meant, Gabriel queried whether it was normal to be beaten with a belt.
He then asked: "Is it normal for you to bleed?"
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However, despite the Los Angeles County child abuse hotline being alerted to the case, nothing was done.
On 22 May 2013, Gabriel was found unconscious when paramedics arrived at his home in Palmdale, California, after a call from his mother reporting an incident.
When he was taken to hospital, doctors discovered the boy's skull had been fractured in two places, he had three ribs broken, his teeth were knocked out with a bat, and his lungs and groin were severely injured by BB gun pellets.
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Gabriel was pronounced brain dead that day and was taken off life support two days later. It was later revealed that his death was a result of a long and sustained campaign of abuse inflicted on him by his mother Pearl Sinthia Fernandez and her boyfriend Isauro Aguirre.
In 2018, Aguirre was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, while Pearl pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to life in prison.
Since the chilling documentary landed on the streaming site, viewers have taken to social media and expressed their anger and frustration with how Gabriel's case was dealt with.
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One said: "F*** these social workers. F*** that teacher. F*** all these people he told his story to & who blatantly f***ing ignored his outcries for help. HE SHOULD BE HERE. He should've been helped! Rest peacefully sweet boy. I'm so sorry everyone failed you."
"The Gabriel Fernandez Trials on Netflix makes me f***ing sick," wrote a second.
While another added: "The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez was heartbreaking. I cannot believe anyone on this planet would do what they did to that poor poor boy.
"It was a struggle to watch but I just had to see the parents who did all the abusing were sentenced accordingly. They way he looked, broke my heart."
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The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is now streaming on Netflix.
Topics:ย TV and Film