Huelva Provincial Court has sentenced Santiago del Valle to 22 years in prison for the sexual abuse and murder of five year old Mari Luz Cortés on January 13th 2008.
The sentence is 19 years for murder and 3 years for sexual abuse and the court has decreed that del Valle must serve half of the sentence before being considered for category three prisoner status.
Santiago del Valle’s sister Rosa was sentenced to 9 years in prison after being convicted as an accomplice to the murder.
Santiago del Valle is banned from living in Huelva or communicating with the family of Mari Luz for 32 years and may not communicate with his sister Rosa for 19 years.
Those convicted must compensate the family of Mari Luz with €166,000 damages and a further €19,000 moral damages relating to the 54 days between the death of Mari Luz and the discovery of her body on March 7th 2008.
Mari Luz Cortes, then five years old, left her home in Torrejon on January 13th 2008 to buy sweets at a local kiosk. On her way home, she was spotted by Santiago del Valle, a convicted sex offender, who was leaning out of the window of the home he shared with his wife Isabel García and his sister Rosa del Valle.
Del Valle threw a teddy bear onto the street and then asked Mari Luz if she could bring it into the house for him. Once she entered stairwell of the house, del Valle began to touch the girl and held her firmly so she couldn’t escape.
The five year old girl fell and lost consciousness and del Valle decided to get rid of the body, although Mari Luz was still alive at this stage. He summoned his sister to help and they bundled Mari Luz into a shopping cart, covered her and wheeled her to the car.
Santiago del Valle then drove to the marshy Estero del Rincón and threw the child into the water where she subsequently died from drowning. Her body was found at 17:30 on March 7th, 2008, floating face down.
Alexandre Garcia says:
You have your facts wrong ….
3 years are not for continual sexual abuse but for the fact that in Spain is the max. amount one can get on the category of sexual abuse (on this case touching the body) This is diferent from sexual agression (the same as abuse but using violence – 12 years) or rape (15 years of jail). Want to stress out that sexual abuse on this case refers the first confession that santiago have done about placing is hands on the body of little Mariluz above cloth. That abuse, if it happened was not able to leave marks on the body, as confirmed on autopsy.
On your article you stated
– “Del Valle threw a teddy bear onto the street and then asked Mari Luz if she could bring it into the house for him. Once she entered the house, del Valle began his abuse and held the girl firmly so she couldn’t escape.”
Actual fact as stated on acusation and sentence is that Mariluz didn’t enter santiago house at all. She was climbing the access stairs to santiago house, and santiago had the intention of abusing Her there, same way he have done with lots of other girls in the past – quick touching done on the body of the victims done most of the time on public/open spaces – Mariluz tryied to run and santiago hold Her by the wrist and torax, Mariluz either felt the stair or hit the head on the handrail, causing a wound on the head, without bleed, that made Her lose conscince.
santiago decided to throw Her body to the water, because he knew that if Mariluz were to be found there he would have problems because of the past sexual abuses he have done. he was suposed to be on jail for the same kind of abuses done to other children, including his own daughter when little Mariluz was killed.
Mariluz … wherever you are now, may your spirit be at peace. At least we manage to find you, at least we know where you are and that you are not suffering, peciouse one. You will live for eternity in my memory. God bless you and keep you safe from harm.