Parents charged with killing boy, 4, who begged social services ‘please don’t send me back to them’

A MUM and dad in California have been charged with murdering their four-year-old son, who had begged social workers "please don’t send me back to them".

Both Jose Cuatro, 27, and Ursula Juarez, 25, have also been accused of torturing Noah Cuatro, who they claimed had drowned in their apartment complex pool.

After Noah Cuatro died, reporters were told that more should have been done to protect him

Noah was found to have suffered a horrific range of injuries during a post-mortem

The pair told authorities they found their son motionless in the water at their Palmdale home on July 5. Noah died the next day in hospital.

The boy's death came weeks after a court order had been granted for his removal from their care, but was not acted upon by social workers.

Jose and Ursula were investigated by police after hospital staff told officials they had found suspicious injuries on Noah's body, indicating abuse.

On September 24, the county coroner's office ruled Noah's death a homicide.

HORRIFIC INJURIES

A post-mortem revealed that the little boy had suffered fractured vertebrae, lacerations to his liver, broken ribs, bruises all over his body, and fresh blood in his rectum.

Prosecutors alleged these injuries were carried out in front of the boy's siblings.

After being arrested on September 26, Jose and Ursula were both charged with murder and torture, said the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The boy's mum also faces one count of child abuse resulting in death, while his dad has also been charged with assault on a child resulting in death.

Sheriff Alex Villanueva said that Noah's death appeared inconsistent with drowning.

The parents were known to social workers as during his short life, the boy had been placed in foster care, before being put in the custody of his great-grandmother, Eva Hernandez.

He was in Eva's care before recently being returned to Jose and Ursula, despite his pleas to stay with his great-grandma.

I just wish they [social workers] would have listened to him. He did say, 'please don't do this, don't send be back'.
Eva Hernandez, Noah's great-grandma

Speaking about his death, Eva told reporters that she felt "sad" and "mixed-up in my brain" as Noah had begged to remain in her care, but was removed from her home by social services.

"I just wish they [social workers] would have listened to him.

"He did say, 'please don't do this, don't send be back'," she added.

The boys' parents appeared in court on Monday where Ursula's mum, Sylvia Juarez, praised her daughter as a "good mother to her kids; she never hurt her kids, and she never raised her voice or her hands [to them]."

But other relatives painted a different picture, saying they had looked after Noah at various stages, after he'd been taken from his parents by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), reports NBC Los Angeles.

"BLOOD ON HANDS"

In May, a removal order which could have taken Noah out of his home was organised after further claims were made about his alleged medical neglect, but never acted upon, despite being approved by a judge.

Brian Claypool, Eva Hernandez's lawyer, alleged that "the DCFS has blood on its hands, and will also be held accountable in a federal lawsuit for deliberately disobeying a court-mandated removal order that would have saved Noah's life," reports the Los Angeles Times.

Concerned social workers - who had been involved with the boy since he was born - had filed a 26-page-long request to remove the lad from Jose and Ursula's home, but didn't follow through with it.

This was based on a tip from relatives, that Noah had allegedly been abused.