A California husband who was caught on video recorded by his 9-year-old child brutally beating his wife in front of their kids has been sentenced to four years in prison.
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo, 38, was handed the maximum term allowed under the law Friday, after pleading no contest in October to felony domestic violence, false imprisonment and misdemeanor child abuse.
The charges stemmed from a harrowing incident that was reported on the morning of Oct. 9, when the Yuba County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from one of Lazaro-Castillo’s children, according to a statement from the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office.
Deputies raced to the family’s home and found Lazaro-Castillo sitting on top of his wife, who was lying face-down on a floor littered with blood-soaked napkins.
The couple’s three children, ages 9, 14 and 15, were at home at the time.
During the investigation, deputies learned that Lazaro-Castillo’s youngest child had videotaped the mother’s brutal assault.
The recording, clocking in at more than 6 minutes, reportedly showed the married dad repeatedly jabbing his wife in the face and head.
One of Lazaro-Castillo’s daughters tried to protect her mother from the blows by shielding the woman with her hands, according to the DA’s office.
But Lazaro-Castillo reportedly slapped the girl on the leg and carried on with the assault by flipping his wife over onto her stomach and pressing her face into the carpet “for an extended amount of time.”
Lazaro-Castillo initially denied abusing his wife and claimed “he had no idea where all the blood had come from.”
It then emerged that the husband, wife and one of their underage children were intoxicated, according to officials.
Nine-year-old sends dad to prison after catching six-minute bloody beating of mom on video
Miguel Lazaro-Castillo was found by deputies sitting on top of his battered wife.
