Mother of paralysed woman who died by euthanasia launches fresh appeal after uncovering details in daughter's diary
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
Details from the diary of a woman who died by euthanasia after being gang raped are helping her mother to launch a fresh appeal to find her alleged attackers.
Noelia Castillo Ramos tried to take her own life by jumping from a roof after the horrifying attack, however she survived and was left paraplegic as a result of the injuries she sustained.
Under Spanish law, Noelia was granted permission for assisted dying, and she passed away at the Sant Pere de Ribes supported living centre in Barcelona on 26 March at the age of just 25.
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On the day of her death, Noelia passed her diary on to her mother Yolanda Ramos, who is now seeking to identify her alleged attackers from information in the document.
Ramos confirmed on Thursday that she has lodged two complaints with the offices of the public prosecutors in Tarragona and Barcelona.
In these complaints, she is demanding that police launch an investigation into the assaults.
Horrifying details from the diaries see Noelia recall how she had allegedly been drugged and plied with alcohol after meeting a waiter in Salou in Tarragona, before being raped by three men.
Her suicide attempt left Noelia paraplegic, and she began to suffer from severe depression.
Eventually this led to her requesting to die by assisted suicide several years after her horrifying ordeal.
The new evidence has emerged after her family was initially unable to make a report about the alleged attacks as there was not enough evidence.
Following her daughter's death Ramos was given access to her daughter's diary as well as other evidence, a press release by her representatives Christian Lawyers said.
"Noelia spoke about the rapes on television, and on the very day she died, she gave me her diary. When I read it, I understood many things," she said.
Noelia had spoken openly about her experience, including her decision that she wished to die by euthanasia in 2022.
In an interview on TV in Spain before her death, she said: "I want to go now and stop suffering, period. None of my family is in favour of euthanasia. But what about all the pain I've suffered during all these years?
She added: "I don't feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult for me, and I have back and leg pain.
"The happiness of a father, a mother, or a sister cannot be more important than the life of a daughter."
Noelia also spoke in an interview which was broadcast on the Antena 3 programme Y Ahora Sonsoles in Spain in which she described what she wanted in her final minutes.
"I've told them how I want it to be," she said. "I want to die looking beautiful. I've always thought I want to die looking good. I'll wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it will be something simple."
Topics: World News, Crime
Kit Roberts