• Courts Two brothers found guilty in the disappearance of Enoch, the boy from Badalona kidnapped in Honduras
  • Badalona A year and a half without a trace of Enoch, the 13-year-old boy kidnapped with violence in Honduras

The Second Chamber of the National Sentencing Court unanimously sentenced brothers Juan José Núñez and Leonel Núñez Murcia to 82 years and one month in prison for the disappearance of Enoc Misael Pérez, the boy residing in Badalona who was kidnapped in Honduras on December 2, 2019 when he was 12 years old and whose whereabouts are unknown. Specifically, both brothers have been sentenced to eight years in prison for the crime of unjust deprivation of liberty to the detriment of Enoch, as well as nine years and 30 days in prison for robbery with aggravated violence and 45 years in prison for three crimes of murder.

The Court also issued "the accessory penalties of absolute disqualification" against the two men arrested in 2020 and who had already been convicted on March 28 of the aforementioned crimes, although the sentence had not yet been issued until this Friday. The defence of the convicted still has a period of 20 days to file an appeal in cassation and, if they do not do so, the judicial decision will be final.

Specifically, the brothers were found guilty not only of the disappearance of Enoch, but also of three crimes of murder to the detriment of the child's paternal grandfather, Rubilio Arturo Pérez, as well as his uncle Israel Humberto Ramos and the young neighbor who took care of him, Cindy Xiomara Castro, 21. As the body of the child has not yet been found, they have not been able to be convicted of the crime of murder against him.

Juan José Murcia and Leonel Núñez Murcia have been in preventive detention since December 6, 2020 pending the trial that was held for 10 days and in which they were found guilty of the crimes of unjust deprivation of liberty, murder and continued aggravated robbery, as requested by the Special Prosecutor's Office for Crimes Against Life , which presented witness, expert and documentary evidence. In this way, the participation of the two brothers, who are responsible for the facts, was verified, along with Bayron Humberto Meléndez, found dead in December 2020 in La Tolva prison, and Abner Vega, who has been in prison since January 23 awaiting trial.

"I JUST HAVE TO EMBRACE HIS MEMORIES"

"Thank God they will not do any more damage," said in statements to EL MUNDO the mother of the child, Karina Chinchilla, who continues to reside in Spain and who has not ceased in her efforts to find her son alive. Since his disappearance, he created a Facebook page, titled 'Let's find my son Enoch Misael'. In his last publication, he sent an "immense hug" to all mothers for their day that was celebrated in Honduras and asked them to "take advantage of their children which is the most important thing." Thus, Chinchilla lamented that she only has to "embrace her memories," but insisted that she remains confident that "someday we will have a beautiful answer." Thus, in other publications she is confident that "we will get to the truth and that one day we will hear from my prince Enoch again."

During the trial, the witnesses reported that on the day of the events they observed the four accused when they took Enoch out of the house, along with his relatives found minutes later lifeless.

According to the investigation that has been ratified in the trial, Enoc, who had been living in Spain for about four years, traveled to Honduras on November 18, 2019 with his maternal grandparents to spend Christmas. In the Central American country, he went to his paternal grandparents' house in Campo Elvir, a town in the city of Tela, in the department of Atlántida, in northern Honduras. The police report revealed that on November 2 of that year, three men broke into his home and, after shooting his paternal grandfather, the criminals suffocated him with a shoelace. They then waited for the boy's uncle, Israel Humberto Ramos, to arrive. Precisely, that day he had just received the money that his sister and mother of the child had sent him from Spain to pay the salary of the neighbor who took care of him, Cindy Xiomara Castro.

As soon as they arrived at the house, the criminals also killed Enoch's uncle with a blow to the head and kidnapped his caregiver and the child. Both the body of the grandfather and uncle were found half-buried next to the house, while that of the nanny was found four days later also with signs of violence. However, to this day, Enoch, who studied at the Rafael Alberti school in Badalona, has not yet appeared, nor is there any clue to his whereabouts.

Three days after Enoc's disappearance, Bayron Humberto Meléndez, alias 'El Brujo', 5, was arrested in a shopping mall on December 2019, 29, one of the main suspects in the murder of the three people and the kidnapping of the child. On the day of the arrest, Meléndez, who was a neighbor of the family, carried in a backpack a pistol with which he could have committed the crimes, as well as a large number of light bulbs, half a kilo of marijuana and about 11,000 lempiras. The police always suspected that he was going to spend several days hiding in the mountain watching the boy waiting to receive a ransom for him.

In addition, in a search of his house, also located in the Campo Elvir neighborhood, they found bloody clothes of Enoch's grandfather. In principle, he was arrested only for the crimes of possession of a firearm for commercial use and illicit drug trafficking, for which he was sentenced to several months in prison, after which he was prosecuted for the murders of the grandfather, uncle and nanny of the child, as well as for the disappearance of the child.

However, he never confessed what he did with the minor and went with the secret to the grave, since on December 12, 2020 he was found dead of asphyxiation by hanging on a beam, apparently after committing suicide in his cell located in module three of the maximum security prison known as La Tolva, in the Honduran department of El Paraíso.

With his death, the search for Enoch was further complicated, despite the fact that the now sentenced Juan José Núñez and Leonel Núñez Murcia, members of the criminal gang known as 'Los Pesperos', who were arrested on December 6, 2020, remained in preventive detention. However, the two brothers never confessed the whereabouts of the child.

The last person to be arrested for these events was Abner Vega, whom the Honduran police took three years to arrest and who is considered the main suspect in the kidnapping. He is currently behind bars after being arrested in the community of Atima, in the Honduran department of Santa Barbara. Vega was on the list of most wanted criminals in Honduras, as State Security forces directly implicate him in the kidnapping and disappearance of Enoc.

The 42-year-old arrested today, for which the minor's family came to offer a reward of up to 250,000 lempiras (9,000 euros) had a judicial arrest warrant since December 4, 2020 for the crimes of murder, aggravated illegal deprivation of liberty and robbery with aggravated violence. Specifically, according to the authorities, he is the leader of the criminal gang 'Los Pesperos', dedicated to kidnapping, armed robbery and hired assassins in the coastal area of Honduras. At the moment, Vega denies knowing Enoc, nor his mother: "I am innocent and I do not know why they link me because I have nothing to do with the disappearance of the child," he said upon arrival at court in San Pedro Sula, where he did acknowledge knowing the two brothers convicted because "they were children of a lady I had."

The police believe that his arrest will be key to finding the whereabouts of Enoch and has become the only possibility for the mother to find the child, who already had a residence permit in Spain. Chinchilla has said on multiple occasions that he does not lose hope of one day reuniting with his only son who dreamed of being an architect and playing football. Enoch turned 15 on November 13 and his mother remains confident that he is still alive. "My son, if one day I see you again I promise never to separate from your side because as much as I try to be well without you it is impossible," says the child's mother in a publication on her social networks.

  • Badalona

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Learn more