Original article: Justicia confirmó condena de 11 años de cárcel a carabinero que agredió con un lumazo en la cabeza a niña de 14 años en noviembre de 2019
The San Miguel Court of Appeals has rejected the appeal challenging the conviction of police officer Luis Antonio Castillo Fernández, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the serious crime of excessive force resulting in severe injuries. At the time of the incident, Castillo held the rank of major.
The incident occurred on November 21, 2019, in La Cisterna, when the officer struck a 14-year-old girl on the head with his baton.
In a unanimous decision, the First Chamber of the appellate court, comprised of judges Carmen Gloria Escanilla, Christian Carvajal Silva, and acting attorney Gabriela Carrasco Tobar, dismissed claims of legal error in the conviction handed down by the Sixth Oral Criminal Court of Santiago.
«From an objective standpoint, the grounds for appeal considered here have been manifestly poorly formalized, which determines that, in terms of criminal nullity and as a strict legal recourse, the appeal based on these grounds must necessarily be rejected,» the ruling states.
The Facts
The initial ruling confirmed beyond a reasonable doubt that at approximately 4:30 PM on November 21, 2019, «(…) at the intersection of José Miguel Carrera Avenue and Ossa Avenue in La Cisterna, Luis Antonio Castillo Fernández, then an officer of the Carabineros, acted unjustifiably and contrary to the internal protocols governing police action, by striking the frontal region of the skull, the right eye, and the chest of (…) a 14-year-old girl.»
The ruling further noted that due to this aggression, the victim «suffered serious injuries including a retinal concussion, Berlin edema, and traumatic uveitis, resulting in permanent legal blindness, as diagnosed at Hospital del Salvador.»
Moreover, the court determined that the girl was not involved in any protest; she was simply out shopping for fabric with her older sister for a dress for her 8th-grade graduation when they found themselves caught in the middle of a demonstration.
According to family members, following the assault, the girl faced significant challenges adapting to her blindness (losing complete vision in one eye and 75% vision in the other), which led to setbacks in her learning and experiences of bullying at school, as well as ongoing problems with sleep and other psychological aftereffects.
In 2021, journalist Sebastián Palma published an extensive report on this case in The Clinic, which is still available online. Read the full article here.
El Ciudadano
