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I add 5 lines of the reconstruction of the day of the crime, a reference and a link.
Maytetxu (talk | contribs)
63 edits
I add 5 lines of reconstruction of the day of the crime, 1 reference, 1 reused reference and a link.
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==Reconstruction==
==Reconstruction==
Thanks to testimonies, [[Closed-circuit television|surveillance cameras]] and records from phones and digital devices, the parents' activities in the hours leading up to their daughter's disappearance and death could be reconstructed:<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez Pontevedra |first=Silvia |last2=Seijo |first2=Pepe |date=21 March 2014 |title=Asunta: medio año y cabos sueltos |url=http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/03/21/galicia/1395427229_627144.html |work=El País}}</ref>
Thanks to testimonies, [[Closed-circuit television|surveillance cameras]] and records from phones and digital devices, the parents' activities in the hours leading up to their daughter's disappearance and death could be reconstructed:<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Rodríguez Pontevedra |first=Silvia |last2=Seijo |first2=Pepe |date=21 March 2014 |title=Asunta: medio año y cabos sueltos |url=http://ccaa.elpais.com/ccaa/2014/03/21/galicia/1395427229_627144.html |work=El País}}</ref>


: 01:55 pm. Asunta leaves her home.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melchor |first=Xurxo |date=27 September 2015 |title=El último día de Asunta Basterra |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/galicia/2015/09/27/ultimo-dia-asunta-basterra/0003_201509G27P3991.htm |work=La Voz de Galicia}}</ref>
: 01:55 pm. Asunta leaves her home.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Melchor |first=Xurxo |date=27 September 2015 |title=El último día de Asunta Basterra |url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/galicia/2015/09/27/ultimo-dia-asunta-basterra/0003_201509G27P3991.htm |work=La Voz de Galicia}}</ref>
Line 73: Line 73:
: 06:35 pm. The alarm at Teo's house is switched off;
: 06:35 pm. The alarm at Teo's house is switched off;
: '''07:00-08:00''' pm. Estimated time of Asunta's death according to forensics; the estimate is approximate, as the body's temperature was not taken.
: '''07:00-08:00''' pm. Estimated time of Asunta's death according to forensics; the estimate is approximate, as the body's temperature was not taken.
: 07:29 pm. The mother makes an internet data connection;
: 07:29 pm. The mother makes an internet data connection
: 08:47 pm. The father's mobile phone registers a first connection;<ref name=":0" />
: 08:53 pm. Teo's house alarm goes off again. At that time (approx.) a neighbour greets Porto, in a car, but does not see the girl;
: 09:00 pm. The father appears on the cameras passing again and again, up to nine times, in front of the lens of the bank branch;
: 09:05 pm. Asunta's mobile phone registers one connection, followed by around twenty others to various phones, made by the father;
: 10:31 pm. The parents denounce the disappearance of Asunta at the central police station in [[Santiago de Compostela]];<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vizoso |first=Sonia |date=22 September 2013 |title=Hallado en Santiago el cadáver de una niña de 12 años con signos de violencia |url=http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2013/09/22/actualidad/1379845124_924418 |work=El País}}</ref>


==Suicide of Rosario Porto==
==Suicide of Rosario Porto==

Revision as of 19:09, 4 April 2024

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Basterra and the second or maternal family name is Porto.
Asunta Basterra
永芳
Born
Fang Yong

(2000-09-30)30 September 2000
Yongzhou, Hunan, China,
Died21 September 2013(2013-09-21) (aged 12)
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Parent(s)Alfonso Basterra Camporro (father)
Rosario Porto Ortega (mother)

Asunta Yong Fang Basterra Porto (born Fang Yong; 30 September 2000 – 21 September 2013)[1] was a Chinese-born Spanish girl whose body was found in Teo, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, on 22 September 2013, shortly before her thirteenth birthday. The coroner determined she had died by asphyxiation, and had been given at least twenty-seven Lorazepam pills on the day of her death, more than nine times a high dosage amount for an adult.[2] The investigation into the death became known as the Asunta Basterra case (Template:Lang-es).[3][4][5]

Asunta's adoptive parents, Alfonso Basterra and Rosario Porto, were found guilty of her murder on 30 October 2015. According to court documents, the couple periodically drugged their daughter with Lorazepam for three months and finally asphyxiated her before disposing of her body.[2][6] The parents, who maintained their innocence, were sentenced to eighteen years in prison.[2]

The case has attracted widespread media interest in Spain and around the world, as well as a "statement of concern" from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A four-part documentary series about the case debuted in 2017 and was made available internationally on Netflix in 2019.[6]

Background

Asunta Basterra was born Fang Yong in 2000 in Yongzhou, Hunan, China. At nine months old she was adopted by Alfonso Basterra Camporro (b. 1964) and Maria del Rosario Porto Ortega (b. 1969 - d. 2020), an affluent Spanish couple from Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.[7] Asunta was the first Chinese child to be adopted in the city of Santiago and one of the first in all of Galicia. Asunta was said to have been a gifted child, being a talented ballet dancer, violinist, and piano player who skipped a year in school.[2] She was also very close to her maternal grandparents, who died the year before her death.[8]

Asunta's adoptive mother, Rosario Porto, came from a prominent Galician family. Her father, lawyer Francisco Porto Mella (d. 2012), was an honorary consul of France. Her mother, María del Socorro Ortega (died 2011), was a highly regarded university lecturer of art history.[2][9][10] Porto studied law at the University of Santiago de Compostela and practiced at her father's firm after graduation. She also claimed to have attended the London High School of Law in England, which The Guardian confirmed does not exist. In 1997 she was appointed consul of France, inheriting the role from her father.[2]

Porto met journalist Alfonso Basterra, a native of Bilbao, in 1990. The two married in 1996 and lived in a large flat that had been given to Porto by her parents. Rosario suffered from flare-ups of Lupus erythematosus, which led doctors to advise against pregnancy, so they decided to start an adoption process in China.[11] In 2001 they travelled to China and adopted 9-month-old Asunta from the Guiyang Welfare Institute.

On 5 January 2013, Alfonso discovers his wife's infidelity when he checks her emails. On the 8th they argue and separate. At first there were unpleasant scenes, Rosario felt harassed, Alfonso sent her constant messages with reproaches and accusations. The divorce decree arrived on 14 February by mutual agreement. Alfonso Basterra went to see a psychologist and with time, the couple reached an equilibrium. He takes care of the girl and Rosario, who, in addition to her illness, lupus, suffers from depressive episodes, and in exchange Rosario helps him financially.[12] They live in close quarters and he can be with the daughter whenever he wants. Asunta split her time between the two homes, walking the short distance between them.[9][13]

On 26 June, Rosario was admitted to the Neurology Department of the Hospital Clínico de Santiago due to a worsening of her illness, with dizziness, instability when walking and drooping of an eyelid. She remained in hospital until 1 July. Her ex-husband reaches a pact with her: he will take care of her and their daughter, but imposes the condition that she must cut off her relationship with her lover. She agrees.[14][15]

On the night of the 4th to the 5th of July, a strange incident occurred that could not be explained. Between 02:30 and 04:30 a man tried to strangle Asunta in her room. Rosario claims that the keys were carelessly left in the door, while she slept she heard noises, got up and went to her daughter's room, where a man of strong build and short stature wearing latex gloves had his hands around her daughter's neck. This man was described in the press as "the man in black". Rosario grabbed him, the man gave him a big push and ran away. Surprisingly, Rosario did not call anyone to help them.[16][17]

There are different interpretations of this incident. Some believe that it was a pure invention of the mother, others that it was a first attempt at murder carried out by the mother or the parents, or that it was an excuse to give her lorazepam. At the trial, the neighbour of Rosario's third neighbour claimed that no one entered the house that night because her dogs did not bark.[18][19]

The mother did not proceed to file a complaint. Asunta told her best friend by WhastApp that someone had tried to kill her that night, but then did not speak to her about it again. On an outing with another friend, Asunta told the story with signs of distress and the friend's mother contacted Rosario and urged her to report it. Rosario went to ask at the police station in Santiago but finally decided not to file a report, although she told her friend's mother that she had filed one.[20][21][22]

In July, Asunta attends music classes. On 9 July, the father brings the daughter with signs of drowsiness or dizziness. The father claims that the daughter has an allergy and has been given an antihistamine that had caused this reaction. On the 22nd a similar incident occurs again, the girl is not able to play well, she is half asleep, she has problems walking. The headmistress questions her and Asunta affirms that they give her some white powder that tastes terrible and leaves her asleep for hours. When questioned by the headmistress, the girl affirms that it is her mother who makes her take the powders: "My mum"; and that a woman friend of her mother's gave them to her mother in the doorway of her house.[23][24]

In August, Rosario suffers from depression and anxiety, and Alfonso takes care of her. Asunta spends the month away from her parents, first with her godmother, from 30 July to 22 August, in Vilanova; later, on 28 August, she goes to the countryside with her carer, the woman who helped Rosario with the housework. During her absence, her parents call her every day, but do not visit her. The girl seems cheerful, happy and carefree.[25][26][27]

Death and investigation

Asunta was first reported missing by her parents at 10:17 pm on Saturday 21 September, 2013. They had eaten lunch together at her father's home that afternoon. Asunta was seen on a bank's security camera at 2 pm walking to her father's house, and appeared on that same security camera at 5:21 pm returning home to her mother's flat. Porto was seen on the same security camera walking home at 5:28 pm.[28]

Porto initially told investigators that she had left home at around 7 pm, leaving Asunta at home doing homework. She said that she had driven alone to the family's country house in Teo, located about twenty minutes outside Santiago, and that when she returned to her apartment at 9:30 Asunta was missing. Porto said that she called Asunta's father and many of her friends, none of whom had seen her.[2]

Investigators later recovered CCTV video footage of Porto and Asunta at a gas station on the route toward Teo at 6:20 pm, contradicting Porto's timeline and story that she had left Asunta home that afternoon. After being made aware of the video Porto changed her story, this time saying that Asunta had briefly come with her to the country house, but that she quickly took her back to Santiago because the child had wanted to do homework. Porto claimed that after dropping Asunta off at home, she went to a sporting goods store to buy an item for Asunta's ballet class, but did not go in after realizing that she had left her purse in Teo. Porto claimed she then returned to the country house in Teo to retrieve her purse, then went to a gas station but did not fill her tank because she realized she did not have her discount card.[29]

Police examined the video footage from thirty-three security cameras around Santiago and found no video of Porto's car on any of the roads she claimed to have driven on that afternoon. The police in charge of the case came to believe that Porto and Asunta arrived at their house in Teo just after 6 pm, and that Porto left the house around 9 pm.[29]

Asunta's body was discovered in the early morning hours of 22 September 2013, at around 1am, on the side of a small mountain road in the parish of San Simón de Ons of Cacheiras, in the municipality of Teo (just 5 km from Rosario Porto's country house in Montouto, also in Teo), by two young people who alerted the Emergency Services, who identified the body of the missing girl.[30][31] Not long after, Porto and investigators went together to the country house, where Porto was told not to touch anything since the house could be a crime scene. Porto told police that she needed to use the bathroom; an officer followed her upstairs, and found her attempting to retrieve the contents of a wastepaper bin in the bedroom. The bin contained a piece of the same type of orange rope that Asunta's limbs had been tied with when her body was found. Forensic scientists were ultimately unable to determine whether or not the discarded piece had come from the same roll used in the murder.[29]

On 24 September Rosario Porto was arrested and investigated for an alleged crime of homicide. A day later, her father, Alfonso Basterra, was also arrested and investigated.

In June 2014, Investigating Judge Vázquez Taín put an end to the pre-trial investigation of the case, giving way to the process of opening trial.[32] In October, the Sixth Section based in Santiago completed the final judicial procedures.[33] The selection of the popular jury began in May 2015, with the trial scheduled to begin between 23 June and 17 July of the same year, but there were some delays[34] and it was finally in early October 2015 when the trial began in the Provincial Court of A Coruña , with 84 witnesses and 60 expert witnesses.[35]

On 30 October 2015, the jury appointed by the Court of Santiago de Compostela unanimously found both Alfonso Basterra and Rosario Porto guilty of the murder of Asunta Basterra.[36] In May 2016, the High Court of Justice of Galicia corrected the verdict and considered that it was not proven that Alfonso Basterra got into the car and accompanied the mother, it was therefore the mother who caused the asphyxiation, although it maintained the sentence for him for planning and collaborating in the murder.[37] In October of the same year, the second chamber of the Supreme Court Court upheld the sentence of the High Court of Justice of Galicia.[38]

The investigation into Asunta's death was named Operación Nenúfar ("Operation Water Lily") by detectives, who noted that in the moonlight, the girl's body in her white shirt appeared to be floating above the ground like a flower.[39]

Reconstruction

Thanks to testimonies, surveillance cameras and records from phones and digital devices, the parents' activities in the hours leading up to their daughter's disappearance and death could be reconstructed:[40]

01:55 pm. Asunta leaves her home.[41]
02:00 pm. She passes a bank branch camera on her way to her father's flat, with whom she is going to have lunch;
04:59 pm. The father's first mobile phone records a call from his flat;
05:21 pm. Asunta walks past the same camera, back to her mother's flat;
05:28 pm. Rosario Porto also walks back to her flat;
05:38 pm. Asunta's mobile phone, located in her mother's flat in Santiago, registers a connection;
06:12 pm. Rosario Porto appears again on another camera entering the garage of her flat;
06:23 pm. The girl is seen by an acquaintance in the company of her father, Alfonso Basterra, in the vicinity of Porto's home.[42]
06:22 pm. The car driven by Porto goes around a roundabout on the way to Teo. The figures of her and her daughter are seen on board;
06:35 pm. The alarm at Teo's house is switched off;
07:00-08:00 pm. Estimated time of Asunta's death according to forensics; the estimate is approximate, as the body's temperature was not taken.
07:29 pm. The mother makes an internet data connection
08:47 pm. The father's mobile phone registers a first connection;[40]
08:53 pm. Teo's house alarm goes off again. At that time (approx.) a neighbour greets Porto, in a car, but does not see the girl;
09:00 pm. The father appears on the cameras passing again and again, up to nine times, in front of the lens of the bank branch;
09:05 pm. Asunta's mobile phone registers one connection, followed by around twenty others to various phones, made by the father;
10:31 pm. The parents denounce the disappearance of Asunta at the central police station in Santiago de Compostela;[43]

Suicide of Rosario Porto

Rosario Porto (18 December 1969 – 18 December 2020) died by suicide after hanging herself in her prison cell in the Brieva penitentiary in Ávila. She had previously made two suicide attempts in prison, by overdosing on prescription medication in 2017 and attempting to strangle herself in a prison shower in 2018.[44]

Documentary

A four-part documentary about the case, Lo que la verdad esconde: Caso Asunta ("What the Truth Hides: The Asunta Case"), directed by Elías León Siminiani, premiered on Spanish television on 24 May 2017.[45] It was considered a landmark documentary in Spain, which historically has eschewed the true crime genre.[46] It became available internationally on Netflix in February 2019.[47]

See also

References

  1. ^ Mahía, Alberto (7 June 2017). "Caso Asunta: Los padres la asesinaron; pero ¿por qué lo hicieron?". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 13 December 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Tremlett, Giles (2 February 2016). "Why did two parents murder their adopted child? | Giles Tremlett". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  3. ^ "Adopted child's death grips Spain". IOL News. AFP. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  4. ^ "为夺遗产？西班牙夫妇疑杀害中国养女". Sina.com.cn (in Chinese). 28 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  5. ^ de Pedro Amatria, Gonzalo (24 May 2017). "Elías León Siminiani, director de 'El caso Asunta': "Rosario habla de su hija con un nivel de dolor y amor que estremece"". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Spanish woman tells court she did not kill adopted Chinese girl". The Straits Times. AFP. 1 October 2015. Archived from the original on 21 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  7. ^ Capeáns, Juan; Mahía, Alberto (31 October 2015). "Rosario y Alfonso sedaron y asfixiaron a Asunta". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  8. ^ Lázaro, Fernando; Sueiro, Marcos (26 September 2013). "La Guardia Civil quiere investigar la muerte de los abuelos de Asunta". El Mundo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  9. ^ a b "Rosario Porto: "Nadie lloró como yo por Asunta"". El País (in Spanish). 23 August 2017. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  10. ^ Guerra, Andrés (27 September 2013). "Así era la familia de Asunta a ojos de sus compañeros de colegio". Vanity Fair (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 23 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  11. ^ Xurxo, Melchor (27 September 2013). "La detenida padecía lupus y el pasado verano sufrió episodios de ansiedad". La Voz de Galicia.
  12. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. pp. 11–18. ISBN 978-1-5275-1150-7.
  13. ^ "Los padres de Asunta pleitearon por la custodia de su hija en el proceso de divorcio". El Faro de Vigo. 30 May 2014.
  14. ^ Melchor, Xurxo (8 March 2014). "Caso Asunta: Basterra quiso vengarse al ver que su exmujer le seguia siendo infiel". La Voz de Galicia.
  15. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1527511507.
  16. ^ Pan, José Manuel (22 November 2013). "Caso Asunta: ¿Quién es el hombre de los guantes?". La Voz de Galicia.
  17. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1527511507.
  18. ^ F., M. (23 July 2014). "Un crimen que comenzó una madrugada de julio". La Opinión A Coruña.
  19. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Cambridge Scholars. p. 35. ISBN 978-1527511507.
  20. ^ Ortiz, Ana María (18 November 2020). "¿Mataron Rosario Porto y Alfonso Basterra a Asunta porque les molestaba?". El Mundo.
  21. ^ Melchor, Xurxo (12 December 2013). "Asunta: "No hables de esto a nadie"". La Voz de Galicia.
  22. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Cambridge Scholars. p. 35. ISBN 978-1527511507.
  23. ^ Capeáns, Juan (8 October 2015). "Asunta a sus profesoras: "No tengo alergia, no sé lo que me dan pero nadie me dice la verdad"". La Voz de Galicia.
  24. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. pp. 39–50. ISBN 978-1527511507.
  25. ^ Balín, Mateo (5 October 2015). "La madrina de Asunta tiene la clave". El Correo.
  26. ^ Melchor, Xurxo (12 December 2013). "Asunta: "No hables de esto a nadie"". La Voz de Galicia.
  27. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-1-5275-1150-7.
  28. ^ "Asunta Basterra, lo que la verdad esconde". El Espanol. 25 May 2017. Archived from the original on 28 May 2017.
  29. ^ a b c Pontevedra, Silvia R (7 Oct 2015). "Surveillance cameras debunk story offered by Asunta's mother". El Pais. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  30. ^ "西班牙被领养中国女孩遭奸杀 案件调查出人意料-中新网". www.chinanews.com. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  31. ^ Guscin, Mark (2018). The murder of Asunta Yong Fang. Cambridge Scholars. ISBN 978-1-5275-1150-7.
  32. ^ Rodríguez Pontevedra, Silvia (20 June 2014). "El juez cree que Alfonso Basterra "participó en la asfixia" de Asunta". El País.
  33. ^ Rodríguez Pontevedra, Silvia (19 October 2014). "La Audiencia anula las conversaciones de los padres de Asunta en el calabozo". El País.
  34. ^ "Seleccionados 20 nuevos candidatos para el jurado del 'caso Asunta'". El País. 19 June 2015.
  35. ^ Ortiz, Ana María (28 September 2015). "¿Mataron a Asunta porque les molestaba?". El Mundo.
  36. ^ Puga, Natalia (30 October 2015). "Los padres de Asunta, culpables". El Mundo.
  37. ^ "El TSJ de Galicia ratifica la condena a los padres de Asunta a 18 años de cárcel tras desestimar sus recursos". www.rtve.es. 16 March 2016.
  38. ^ Agencia EFE (11 September 2016). "El Supremo confirma la condena a 18 años a cada uno de los padres de Asunta". Sur.
  39. ^ Lo que la verdad esconde: Caso Asunta, part 3
  40. ^ a b Rodríguez Pontevedra, Silvia; Seijo, Pepe (21 March 2014). "Asunta: medio año y cabos sueltos". El País.
  41. ^ Melchor, Xurxo (27 September 2015). "El último día de Asunta Basterra". La Voz de Galicia.
  42. ^ Rodríguez Pontevedra, Silvia; Seijo, Pepe (16 March 2014). "Asunta, envenenada gota a gota". El País.
  43. ^ Vizoso, Sonia (22 September 2013). "Hallado en Santiago el cadáver de una niña de 12 años con signos de violencia". El País.
  44. ^ "Spanish mother convicted of 2013 child murder found dead inside her prison cell". El País. 18 November 2020. Archived from the original on 19 May 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  45. ^ Marcos, Natalia (22 May 2017). "Tras el rastro del 'caso Asunta'". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  46. ^ "El caso Asunta: Investigar y analizar crímenes, la nueva afición de los amantes de las series". La Vanguardia. 31 May 2017. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  47. ^ Santonja, María (8 February 2019). "Las series españolas que vienen en 2019: Netflix". Fuera de Series. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
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