The court saw harrowing police bodycam footage as part of a child abuse trial against the father of four year old Benjamin Cevera, who tragically died from starvation. Taken in July 2021, the video exhibited young Benjamin with black eyes and protruding bones—merely weeks before his untimely death.
The footage, revealed during proceedings in San Antonio, Texas, showed the visibly malnourished child, known as Benji to family, who weighed a mere 28 pounds at his time of passing. Jurors heard that the young boy had to endure being made to consume hand sanitizer and was forced to eat breadcrumbs off the family bathroom floor without using his hands, reports the Mirror.
Benjamin’s father, Brandon Cevera, while speaking to the police during a welfare visit captured on their cameras, insisted that the boy cause injury to himself, saying, “pokes his eyes and he pokes his ears.”
Stepmother Miranda Casarez, aged 25, seen in the same shocking footage talking to the officers, has already been sentenced earlier this year to 25 years behind bars for her role in the abuse.
“He has behavioural issues,” she explained. “He gets up at night and he goes into the kitchen and eats.”
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Gauze was also seen protruding from Benji’s ears, while the boy was also filmed asking his father for food.
It has since been revealed the four year old was the only member of the family to not have his own bed and was instead locked in his room where he slept on mattress with a urine-soaked blanket. He was also prevented from using the fridge and kitchen cabinets, which were padlocked to stop him from getting food according to the San Antonio-Express News
.
Officer Omar Perez has since told the court when they made a welfare check, Benji was so skinny they could “see his bones.”
Officer Perez said: “He had bruises on his eyes and torso and he was skinny … able to see his bones.”
EMS called to the scene to check Benji’s vitals and said they were normal though Perez was told to call child protective services and fill out a report. Just 25 days later and Benji was dead.
Brandon Cevera denies causing injury to a child and faces life in prison if convicted. The trial is set to resume on Monday.
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