Children are always watching. Even when we think they’re not paying attention, they’re taking notes, learning from our behavior and gathering information about the world around them and their place in it. In some cases they’re storing this information in more places than their little minds. One 9-year-old who lives in California recorded her father’s violence against her mother and used the footage to get him sentenced December 1 to several years in prison.
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One of the couple's children called police.
The Yuba County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from one of Miguel Lazaro-Castillo’s children about 2 a.m. October 9, the District Attorney’s Office reported. When Deputies arrived six minutes later, they found Lazaro Castillo’s wife lying face down on the floor, surrounded by bloody napkins. The couple’s minor children, 15, 14, and 9, were all at the scene.
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During the investigation, police learned the youngest child had recorded the violent incident.
When police interviewed Lazaro-Castillo, he denied striking his wife. He told officers he had no idea where the blood came from, according to the release.
In the midst of the investigation, authorities learned that the youngest child had recorded the violent attack. In the six-minute video, Lazaro-Castillo repeatedly hit his wife in the face and head, the New York Post reported.
The couple and one of their minor children reportedly were intoxicated at the time of the attack.
In the midst of the beating, one of the couple’s daughters tried to intervene by using her hands to protect her mother from the blows. Lazaro-Castillo slapped the girl on the leg and continued beating his wife, according to the district attorney's release.
Eventually, he flipped his wife over onto her stomach and pressed her face into the carpet “for an extended amount of time,” per the Post. Authorities later discovered that Lazaro-Castillo, the wife and one of the minor children were intoxicated at the time of the incident.
Lazaro-Castillo received the maximum sentence in the crime.
A Yuba County deputy removed the children from the home and placed them in protective custody and placed Lazaro-Castillo under arrest.
During the father's trial, he pleaded no contest to charges of felony domestic violence, false imprisonment, and misdemeanor child abuse. Although he had no prior criminal record, he received the maximum sentence — four years — based on the “brutality of his actions” and his “utter disregard for his children,” the district attorney’s office explained in the release.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter (domesticshelters.org).
