This is the heart-wrenching moment police conduct a welfare check on a tiny four-year-old boy who died just weeks later after being forced to live off hand sanitizer.
Jurors were shown disturbing footage from July 2021 in which little Benjamin, or ‘Benji’ as friends and family called him, appeared emaciated and bruised. In the bodycam video footage presented by prosecutors in San Antonio, Texas, during his father Brandon Cevera’s trial for child abuse, the dire state of the young boy’s condition was painstakingly evident.
Alarmingly frail at only 28 pounds when he passed away, Benji had suffered grave mistreatment. Reports indicate that relatives forced him to consume hand sanitizer and pick breadcrumbs off the bathroom floor using no hands
Benjamin Cevera was seen looking hungry and frightened in a July 2021 clip shown to jurors (
KSAT)
In the harrowing bodycam clips divulged in the courtroom, Brandon Cevera and stepmother Miranda Casarez, 25, are seen during a welfare check by officers, stating that their son was inflicting injuries on himself. Brandon explains that his son “pokes his eyes and he pokes his ears.”
Earlier this year, Casarez received a 25-year sentence for her role in abusing Benji, with moments of her narrative captured on the same upsetting police footage, reports the Mirror. “He has behavioral issues,” she explained. “He gets up at night and he goes into the kitchen and eats.”
Witnesses also noticed gauze hanging from little Benjis ears, and chilling footage revealed the boy pleading with his father for food.
His father Brandon Cevera, is seen in police bodycam footage standing next to his child in 2021 (
KSAT)
It emerged that Benji was the only family member without a personal bed, instead being confined in a room where he rested on a mattress covered by a urine-drenched blanket.
Locked away, Benji was barred from the fridge and kitchen cabinets, which were secured with padlocks to prevent his access to any food, as reported by the San Antonio-Express News. During a welfare check, Officer Omar Perez told the courtroom that he was taken aback by Benji’s emaciated figure, stating they could “see his bones.” Officer Perez recalled: “He had bruises on his eyes and torso and he was skinny… able to see his bones.”
Although EMS checked the young boy and found his vitals normal, Perez received instructions to notify Child Protective Services and prepare a report. Merely 25 days following this event, young Benji passed away. Brandon Cevera, accused of inflicting harm on a child, vehemently refutes the allegations. He risks a life sentence if found guilty.
The tense trial is expected to recommence on Monday.