Colombia: what are the parents of a baby who died in a car facing while they were in a motel?

The authorities advance investigations into the death of a 7-month-old baby who was found inside a car, in Valledupar, Colombia.

As has been known, his parents María Camila Mengual Mójica, 19, and Humberto Manuel Olivilla Pineda, 23, They left her in the car and entered the motel Santa Bárbara, in the October 12 neighborhood of that city; A local worker noticed that there was a girl in her car who was not breathing and took her to a medical center, where they informed him that she had no vital signs.

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Although so far there have been no arrests and the Prosecutor’s Office has not formally announced a process, The young people could face criminal proceedings and a sentence for the death of the girl. In addition, it is known that a medical evaluation was ordered to determine if they had consumed psychoactive substances, since they also had to be transferred to a hospital from the motel where they were.

According to criminal lawyer Camilo Burbano, in this case we could be, presumably, facing one of two crimes. In the first place, it could be classified as a culpable homicide, “which occurs when a person causes the death of another by a reckless action or omission. This crime has a prison sentence of 2 years and 8 months to 7 years and 6 months. However, if the conduct was committed under the influence of a psychoactive or alcoholic substance, the penalty would be aggravated, reaching a minimum of 4 years and a maximum of 17 years and two months,” he commented.

The second scenario that the Prosecutor’s Office could consider, said the lawyer, would be that an intentional homicide was presented, in the modality of possible fraud. “This modality implies that the author foresees the conduct as possible and leaves its realization to chance. In this case, we would be facing a crime aggravated by kinship and by being a minor under 14 years of age, for which the penalty ranges from 40 years to 50 years in prison, ”he commented.

For her part, the criminal Dalila Henao commented that in addition to breaking a regulation that minors cannot enter motels, “these people did not act prudently, since the simple fact of leaving a baby unattended and inside a lit vehicle is contrary to the socially expected behavior of those who are in charge of a newborn”.

He added that when reckless behavior ends in the injury of a legal asset, as in this case the life of the baby, it is called culpable homicide, which contemplates a custodial sentence ranging from 32 to 108 months. prison.

“For this point, it is also important to note that the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Justice has applied the figure of natural punishment on several occasions, which refers to the absence of the need to impose a sentence on those who have caused an auto- harm with the performance of the conduct. This means that it is contrary to human dignity and the purposes of criminal sanctions to impose punishment on those who have already caused significant damage through their own recklessness, such as the pain of ending the life of a child, a situation that can easily It could be predicated of the mother of the minor, “he concluded.

And Francisco Bernate, president of the Colombian Criminal Lawyers College, emphasized that the Penal Code states that parents are guarantors of the life and integrity of their children, and that leaving a child abandoned in a running vehicle is undoubtedly a risk to his life.

“There would be talk of a homicide by omission and given the magnitude of the risk, it is by way of fraud. The Prosecutor’s Office must initiate an investigation against the two parents for homicide by intentional omission, which is aggravated because he is their minor child; and the sanction would start from 33 years in prison. Leaving a child in these conditions is not a reckless act, it is an act conscious of the risk that is assumed, ”she indicated.

In any case, the investigations continue to advance and although it was initially indicated that the baby died from inhaling carbon monoxide, the authorities await the results of the autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.