A California Mom who was convicted of murdering her son was sentenced to death for her crimes.
29-year-old Belinda Magana was accused of beating and denying medical care for her son, Malachi Magana, after he was scalded with hot water. Malachi was just 2 years old when he died.
Naresh Narine, 43, who was Magana’s then-boyfriend was also sentenced to death.
The murder occurred in 2009 however the two were found guilty of their crimes, including first-degree murder, torture and child abuse, in January of this year. Sentencing then took place soon after
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz recommended that they receive separate juries in their trials. Their actions were noted as “repulsive and disgusting” by Judge Schwartz. He also made mention that the child would have been 7 or 8 if he was alive.
“He would have been in school, playing with friends, getting ready for summer vacation,” Schwartz said.
The mother has refused to admit her guilt in the crime and just before the judge announced the sentence, she said: “I just wanted to say to my family and everybody else that I’m truly sorry for the part that I did. Regardless of what anybody said, I didn’t kill my son.”
The child was reportedly burned in the shower and did not receive any medical attention, except for some ointment his mother applied.
Belinda alleged that she was out at the grocery store with Malachi’s 4-year-old brother at the time of the scalding, and on the other hand Narine said that it was the 4-year-old brother who turned on the hot water.
The pair however both admitted to beating the child when he began crying out. Horrifically, the cause of death was later determined to be due to blunt force trauma to the head and complications due to his scalding burns.
After passing, the couple reportedly buried him in a shallow grave in San Bernardino County.
After the mother reported her their child missing to police, she admitted her crime and took officials to her son’s grave.