Mother’s mission for euthanised daughter paralysed after gang rape | World | News

The mother of a Spanish woman who died by euthanasia following a public fight over her right to end her life has taken legal action to identify the men she claims were involved in allegations of sexual assault against her daughter.

Noelia Castillo Ramos, 25, died on March 26 at the Sant Pere de Ribes assisted living facility in Barcelona after being approved for assisted dying under Spain’s euthanasia law.

He became paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from a roof following what he described as a traumatic incident involving allegations of sexual assault.

Her mother, Yolanda Ramos, announced Thursday that she had filed two complaints with prosecutors in Barcelona and Tarragona demanding an investigation into the alleged attacks.

Ramos, who is represented by the Spanish Christian Lawyers Foundation, is trying to identify the alleged attackers using evidence from the diary his daughter gave him on the day of Noelia’s death.

Following Noelia’s death, Ramos said he had access to previously unanalyzed evidence, including the diary.

In the diary, Noelia allegedly described being forced to have sex by a Pakistani national.

She also reportedly wrote about an incident in the town of Salou, Tarragona, in which she claimed she was drugged, given alcohol and raped by three men.

The family had previously been unable to report the incidents due to a lack of conclusive evidence.

In the video released along with Christian Lawyers’ statement, Ramos explained that he was seeking justice because he believed that was what his daughter would want.

“Noelia talked about the rapes on TV and gave me her diary the day she died. When I read it, I understood a lot of things,” she said.

Noelia’s case was closely followed in Spain due to her age, her family’s public campaign against her request for euthanasia, and the legal battle over whether her life should be allowed to end.

The euthanasia request was approved in July 2024 by an independent body of doctors, lawyers and bioethicists in Catalonia.

The agency approved her request after evaluations found that the woman suffered from a serious and incurable condition and was experiencing severe, chronic and disabling pain.

The procedure was later delayed after his father launched a series of legal challenges supported by Christian Lawyers.

These appeals were rejected at various stages of the Spanish legal system, including the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, and euthanasia was allowed to proceed.

A final attempt to halt the procedure at the European Court of Human Rights just days before his death was also rejected.

Spain’s euthanasia law came into force in 2021 and allows people who meet strict requirements to request assistance in dying.

Government figures show 426 requests for assisted dying will be approved in 2024, the last year for which data is available.

Noelia, who has been confined to a wheelchair since 2022, spoke openly about her decision and said that the pain she experienced led her to ask for euthanasia.

“Now I want to go and stop suffering. None of my family supports euthanasia. What about the pain I’ve been going through all these years?” he said in an interview on Spanish television before his death.

“I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. It’s very difficult for me to sleep, my back and legs hurt.”

Speaking about her family, she added: “The happiness of a father, a mother, or a sister cannot be more important than the life of a daughter.”

In an interview broadcast on the Y Ahora Sonsoles program of the Spanish broadcaster Antena 3, Noelia talked about how she wanted to spend her last moments.

“I told them how I want it to be. I want to die looking good. I always thought I wanted to die looking good. I’ll wear my nicest dress and put on make-up; it’ll be something simple,” she said.

Her father attempted to block her euthanasia through the courts, arguing that she suffered from mental disorders that could affect her ability to make a free and informed decision as required by law.

He also said there were signs he had changed his mind and that his condition did not involve “unbearable physical or psychological pain.”

Noelia accused her father of not respecting her wishes.

“He did not respect my decisions and will never respect them,” he said in his last interview.

Spain is one of the few European countries to legalize euthanasia, following a law with strict requirements in 2021.

The legislation states that any sane person suffering from a “serious and incurable disease” or a “chronic and disabling” condition can seek assistance in dying.

Although the criteria vary between countries, Spain is among nine European countries with laws allowing people experiencing unbearable pain to access assisted dying.