Mother pleads guilty to torturing 8-year-old to death because her boyfriend thought he was gay

A mother has pleaded guilty to the murder of her eight-year-old son who she tortured to death because her boyfriend thought he was gay.

Pearl Sinthia Fernandez killed her son Gabriel in May 2013 with the help of her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

Gabriel Fernandez (KTLA)

He was found naked at their home in Palmdale, Los Angeles, with a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns.

He died two days after he was found.

A court heard how the couple beat their son, shot him with a BB gun, fed him cat litter and faeces and kept him bound and gagged for days at a time.

They also called him gay and forced him to wear typically female clothing to school.

Gabriel’s teenage siblings Ezequiel and Virginia caused jurors to sob uncontrollably as they described horrific torture which they said Gabriel had suffered.

Ezequiel, 16, said Aguirre shot Gabriel with a BB gun in the face and groin and beat him using wire hangers and a belt buckle.

Aguirre had repeatedly slammed Gabriel’s head into the walls of their home, causing hundreds of blood stains and dents.

Alison Segal, a registered nurse, told the jury that Gabriel’s injuries were so severe when he was brought to hospital before dying that she didn’t have time to perform a “comprehensive assessment”.