A family court in Durango cited two girls in their 5s and 6s to testify on Monday alone before a judge, a Public Prosecutor’s Office agent and a tutriz (legal guardian appointed by the court), because their father, businessman Mauricio N., is asking to keep parental authority, even though he is in demand for rape and sexual abuse against them.
Dad hasn’t seen them in nine months, he doesn’t even talk to them on the phone. The girls’ mother filed the complaint in August 2020, after a while of noticing behaviors that were signs of sexual violence and for a medical expert to confirm injuries to one of them.
Then the suspension of the coexistences was ordered and the father no longer even tried to have contact with them; but without the criminal complaint being resolved, the family court is advancing his demand to take the parental authority away from the mother.
In fact, Mauricio N. has already obtained a psychological evaluation that states that he is fit for his role as a father and does not pose a risk to girls.
Assessment that contradicts the results of a private psychological expertise practiced to the little ones in which they identify not only the father as risk figures, but also the paternal grandfather, which the mother sent out of state in the face of suspicions of influence, and the fact that he was already convicted of child abduction when after the divorce she tried to steal from the girls , in 2019.
The little girls’ maternal grandfather, Gustavo Peyro, tells Political Animal that unlike how Dad’s request is advancing, his daughter was denied an attempt to ask that he rather lose parental authority and she will remain in ultimate custody.
Grandpa personally came to testify as a witness that Mauritius N. has not only not had contact with the girls since August, but has also not contributed alimony, and because his daughter lost her job for continuing the lawsuit, he is the one who has taken financial care of her granddaughters in all these months.
However, she explains that the judge dismissed this and the about 30 evidence they submitted, on the grounds that there was already an incident over parental authority, promoted by Mauritius N.
So to continue the process initiated by him, on Monday the mother had to introduce the two girls to the Family Cohabitation Center (Cecofam), a place that is designed for children to live with relatives under the supervision of authorities.
By protocol, they had a brief explanation that they could tell the authorities everything they wanted about how they feel and what they think, or shut up if they didn’t want to talk about something. But then they had to go into the courtroom alone with judge, MP, legal representative and psychologists, while their mom stayed out.
This same situation occurred when they showed up for sexual violence, even though it is an irregularity that the mother has not been allowed to present and the girls have spent more than two hours in a cubicle giving an adult statement. Psychological assessments were also made at the time, which were then considered by an independent contradictamen that they had not been well applied and that they minimized signs of sexual violence; but that out-of-the-box opinion was dismissed.
The grandfather of the little ones worries that the father, Mauricio N., is dangerous, that he arrived at the place and seeing that outside was his ex-sleeper recording with his cell phone, he began to assault him and the police ended up entering the restaurant where the girls’ aunt was also with her baby.
After the incident and after hours of testifying, the girls commented that they had said they want to continue living with their mom because their dad touched them. But for now they didn’t give the family access to the recordings of what happened before the judge.
And as the case flows from the familiar side, the criminal lawsuit has no progress or been prosecuted in these nine months. Protection measures for girls and their mother have expired since November, so there are currently no restrictions against the alleged aggressor.
In that month and after Political Animal and other means made the case known, they finally gave the mother access to the investigative folder, but it was the only time: even though it is her right as victims, the Durango State Attorney General’s Office has denied it.
An office that had access to this medium indicates that it is not allowed to see the folder to safeguard the identity of girls, because it is not a case of serious human rights violations or humanity, which are reasons to make a record known, and finally, because the case has been made known on Facebook.
Indeed, the Justice for Girls account in Durango was created to exhibit possible irregularities in the handling of the investigation, whereas even the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) asked the state DIF to intervene — although the mother had also accused the agency of revictimizing her and her daughters when she initiated the lawsuit.
After that CNDH call of attention, the girls’ grandfather says, they were ordered to go to therapies at Durango Psychiatric Hospital. But on the recommendation of the National System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (Sipinna), the children were already receiving psychological support from the Association for the Integral Development of Raped Persons (Adivac), an organization with international recognition in the treatment of these cases.
So the Hospital itself decided that it was better not to overwhelm the minors and that they only carried civil association therapy. However, the girls’ mother was already on the court’s side to suspend attention with Adivac.
In addition, the girls’ pediatrician told them that she was pressured to say that the injuries one of them has are from constipation and use of suppository, rather than possible rape.
The family complains that the authorities have acted to favor the father, despite the seriousness of the accusations, for the political and economic ties he has in the state. They therefore call for the case to be attended impartially and by putting above the well-being of minors.
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