The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez *TRIGGER WARNING*

[ThePolishWombat]

Started watching the first episode today when the baby napped, and I think it’s fair to say, even the first 5 minutes made for some the three most horrific tv I’ve ever watched
Anyone else started it??

I could do a case like that. I was abused as a child and I am very good at separating my emotions from logic. My sister had to do an historic child sexual abuse case and it about finished her. It came quite quickly on the back of our DM dying so I really think she should have asked for an excusal.

Sorry to hear that @WaxOnFeckOff sounds really rough on both of you x

We're both fine thanks

It's no longer something I give any thought to on a day to day basis.

Worse things happen unfortunately and my abuser had his day in court although I wasn't one of the cases involved.

The best revenge is to live a happy life.

My mum was abusive to me when I was little, although nothing on the scale of Gabriel’s case. I really struggled with the whole Mother’s Day card thing because I remember making a Christmas card at school for my mum under similar circumstances (at that particular time she had actually been sectioned and I was going to go and visit her at the psychiatric hospital that evening) and I was going to give her the card. I remember thinking maybe this card will solve everything, maybe I’ll make such a great card THIS will be the thing that makes her love me again, be proud of me etc. I was 4 (nearly 5) when I made that and I can still remember those thoughts I had so clearly (I’m now nearly 40). It stays with you. When I saw the Mother’s Day photos of Gabriel you can almost see the hope in his face, the hope that he’s doing something nice for his Mum, maybe this will change things. That’s why that particular part is so hard to watch, for me anyway.

Something that I think should have really rang alarm bells much more than it did was the fact he was crying because he didn’t want to go home... What 7/8 year old cries because they don’t want to go home?! We need to take these things much more seriously. The teacher did the best she could in difficult circumstances and it was the social workers who really failed him (and obviously his mum and step dad first and foremost) but these things are red flags, serious red flags. They warrant investigating on their own.

@WaxOnFeckOff so sorry to hear you went through that. You have incredible strength to feel the way you do.

@Fairylea I'm sorry that happened to you too - I can't imagine how hard that would have been to watch.

The teacher seems more excited about being on TV than feeling guilty for being a part of the fuck up.

What part of her thinks that because she phoned social services a few times she's a hero?

She told the Head ONCE who was dismissive so she "never bothered again".

After him disclosing to her that he was shot in the face with a gun and he then "disappeared" for a couple of weeks she did NOTHING to check where he was apart from saying "phew!" when he turned back up to school covered in cuts and bruises and hadn't died.

She should have been on that phone chasing up social services every single day.
She should have kept him in her classroom at the end of the day and phoned the police.

I don't care how emotional her impact statement at the end was. It felt 'acted' to me.

Disgusting.

And also, on a complete aside and nothing to do with the actual subject of the documentary.....how annoying is that croaky creak in the voice of the prosecutor?! Nails on a chalkboard for me!

@BobbyBlueCat I agree with you! I know ppl are saying she was limited in what she could do, but I don't think she was. It felt like those were excuses she came up with after he was murdered! 8 MONTHS of seeing him 5 days a week. She took those photos of him looking like that! I didn't feel she seemed remorseful.

Tbh, I don't think many of them did, not even the uncle's boyfriend - he was smiling the whole time.

I just can't understand how all those ppl saw pieces of this & not vague things, but each one very serious, yet cumulatively did nothing.

The more I think about it the angrier I get.

@QueenOfOversharing the only people who seemed to be genuinely cut up over the whole thing (from outside the family) were the security guard from the welfare office, and that poor poor ER nurse from the first episode She broke my heart describing how she and her family still celebrate his birthday

I felt angry with the teacher too.

I do think the culture of physical punishment being okay in the USA makes these cases more frequent than they are in the UK. Even the first time he talked to the teacher and asked her if it was okay for his mum to hit him with a belt the teacher responded that some parents do that It should be a NO that is NEVER acceptable. We need to be shouting across the world that physical punishment / smacking is never okay, ever. Otherwise it’s too easy for things like this to be explained away or even for the child to feel like it’s normal.

My whole family is from the USA and it’s amazing the different attitude to smacking / physical punishment - which I’m loathe to even use that term because let’s face it it’s just physical abuse.

The USA needs to completely challenge the whole attitude about it.

@Fairylea I get that vibe too.
The whole premise of “spanking” your kids seems to be very mainstream in the US

I feel like if the social workers were culpable in the eyes of the law, then so should that teacher have been.

She was the one that got first disclosure and she made a token effort and nothing more.

Even if she couldn't have done anything (which is utter bollocks but let's imagine that was the case), when he asked if it was normal to be whipped with the metal hook part of a belt that made you bleed she should have said "Absolutely not. What they are doing to you is wrong. When those social workers visit, you must tell them EVERYTHING that is happening and they will help you then. It is NOT okay".
Instead, she told him "hmmm....that depends". That meant she confused him and made him think that maybe what was happening to him wasn't THAT wrong and he just had to put up with it. It may also have contributed to him not telling social services and Police everything that was happening to him because he was now conflicted over whether it was right or not.

It's easy for her to turn on the waterworks for the cameras and the court after the event.
It's harder to do the correct thing at the time.
She deserves to feel bad. She fucked up and massively contributed to his death.

She deserves to feel bad. She fucked up and massively contributed to his death

BobbyBlueCat I agree 💯%

That teacher witnessed what Gabriel was having to endure. She saw, first hand, the state his little body was in, yet allowed him to go home to his abusers time after time. Then after seeing him with extensive injuries - and bullet marks FFS! She didn’t chase up why he wasn’t in school for weeks after.

Those Social Workers weren’t found culpable either. The case against them was dropped 🤬

I despair when someone posts their concerns for a child on this site, only to be met with “Mind your own business!”

Child protection is everyone’s business.

After watching the Netflicks documentary and seeing many clips of the case on YouTube I can’t get poor Gabriel out of my head. How did so many people not care enough about a small child to help him? It’s unbelievable - and very distressing. But our thoughts and feelings can never compare to what that little boy endured.

The judge, in his summing up was right - Those that inflicted pain, suffering and torture cannot be compared to animals. Animals go all out to protect their young. Hope those two are tortured every day for the rest of their lives. There are no words strong enough to describe them.

Yes @BobbyBlueCat - that is exactly what I think too.

I saw this on Facebook yesterday but have no idea how true it is.

Well I'm over here hoping it's true @ThePolishWombat

@ThePolishWombat So hoping 🙏

I have watched the whole series
It is heart breaking but definitely worth watching

Seems to be only Hear’Say regarding her treatment in prison, but this person on Twitter says their mum works in the prison and Pearl isn’t having a good time

www.distractify.com/p/gabriel-fernandez-mother-jail-treatment

@ThePolishWombat she better be getting more than her ass beat horrible bitch

Love this

@Bowzer it's fucking brilliant isn't it and I would describe myself as a nice human being but fuck me karma at its best

@mrssunshinexxx

It's the best thing I've seen in a while, she deserves a lot worse. There's an interview with another woman that was locked up with her during the trial, she was caught stealing from cells and her paper work accidentally got shown to one of the inmates she'd stolen from. Her pals in jail are making her life a misery, I'll see if I can find the link and post it to lighten everyone's day haha

Oooooooooooh that Isabel Garcia has been on YouTube reiterating that info about Pearl getting beaten up.

Terrible audio, but you'll get the idea