Those responsible for the death of a baby thrown into a container in Portocristo are on trial

The jury trial for the death of the baby thrown into a dumpster in Portocristo in 2023 began this Friday at the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands with the selection of a new jury. The proceedings began with the selection of a new jury and, subsequently, with the reading of the prosecution's and defense's written statements. The first witnesses will testify next Monday, and the defendants will be questioned on Wednesday. On Thursday, the jury will receive the verdict form to begin deliberations.

The first trial for these events took place at the end of October 2025, but before it concluded, it was annulled due to doubts surrounding the competence of an expert witness who testified at the request of the defendants' lawyers. The judge considered that the only evidence presented by the defense, this expert's report, which maintained that the baby died from an abortion, could not be considered valid, given that the Criminal Procedure Law requires that the person preparing the report hold an official qualification. Therefore, she determined that the trial could not continue, as the defense would be left without evidence and the principle of equality of arms would be violated, in addition to the right to a defense and effective judicial protection guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution. Life imprisonment with review

The mother and uncle of the baby will once again sit in the dock, facing life imprisonment with the possibility of parole as the alleged perpetrators of murder. The mother's sister-in-law is also accused and faces a fine of €5,400 for allegedly failing to provide assistance. The events, as outlined by the prosecutor in her indictment, occurred on November 3, 2023, when the woman, 26 or 27 weeks pregnant, became ill inside a vehicle in which she was traveling with the other two defendants. After giving birth, and despite being near a hospital, the mother handed the newborn's body to the man to throw into a nearby dumpster, and they fled the scene. The first hearings are scheduled for October.

The public prosecutor, during the first session of the later annulled hearing, argued that the baby "was born alive and arrived warm at the hospital," where she was taken after being found in the dumpster. "The baby was killed because she was thrown into the dumpster and abandoned," she stated in her opening report. The mother's defense attorney, for his part, admitted that what the woman did was "atrocious," but that "she is not a murderer." The lawyer representing the baby's uncle argued that the man did not know his sister-in-law was pregnant or that she was throwing the dead baby into the dumpster. "He could never have imagined that he had disposed of a human fetus," she asserted. The on-call pediatrician and an emergency room doctor at the Hospital de Levante, where the newborn was treated, believed the baby was born alive, although given the circumstances of the birth and the time elapsed between the rescue from the container and arrival at the hospital, it likely arrived without hospitalization.