For several weeks, between February and March 2020, Diana Torres Acosta and her husband were under electronic surveillance by the authorities, in addition to being pawns in a large infiltration operation.
They were the main suspects in the murder of a 13-month-old child.
The girl died in July 2019, after suffering severe injuries resembling shaken baby syndrome. Due to a lack of evidence, the police launched an “Mr Big” operation in the hope of obtaining a confession from the guard.
Torres Acosta was therefore hired by a fictitious company to carry out maintenance tasks or deliveries. She became friends with her colleagues, who were actually police officers.
Staging
On March 23, 2020, she was filmed without her knowledge, when she half-heartedly confessed to having shaken the 13-month-old child, in a room in a Quebec hotel.
The boss of the fictitious company wanted to know the truth surrounding the police investigation which concerned it, in order to help his employee with the legal proceedings. He claimed to have paid a large amount of money to obtain the child’s medical report, in particular.
(Quebec courthouse)
This meeting lasted almost eight hours. Torres Acosta initially said she dropped the girl into the park, onto some cushions. She then said she played “strongly” with her, spinning her around by her arms. She even imitated the gestures with a cushion in the hotel room.
It is possible to see that the babysitter’s “game” seems aggressive to the body of a 13-month-old girl.
These two manipulations could have caused injuries to the child, according to Torres Acosta.
During these confessions, the accused maintained that she never “got angry” with the little girl. She just wanted to play with her and make her smile again.
However, it is unlikely that a “play” and a fall of just one meter onto cushions caused fatal injuries to the child, comparing it to “a fall from 10 floors”, as doctors said who assessed the victim.
The fake boss of the company also made the same remarks during the interview. He accused Torres Acosta of telling “lies.”
The accused broke down in tears several times, turning to God for the strength to continue and to forgive himself.
When leaving the hotel room, after a highly emotional interview, Torres Acosta also confided in another false colleague, whom she believed to be her friend. “I shook her,” she blurted out once again, sitting in the car.
Angry
On Wednesday afternoon, the prosecution filed into evidence various extracts from wiretapping carried out for weeks in the suspect’s residence. We hear Diana Torres Acosta screaming in anger against her husband and children.
She shouts and insults the owners of her accommodation using the words “dirty dog”, “sons of bitches” and “bastards”. All his words are spoken in Spanish. A court employee does the translation throughout the trial.
During a dinner, the accused can be heard talking with her children; it refers to certain moments of violence.
“I can’t beat you anymore […] What happened was to understand that I could no longer physically abuse you. There are other ways to make you understand.”
This “character evidence” filed by the prosecution insinuates that Torres Acosta is the type of person likely to have committed the offense.
At the end of these first two weeks of trial, Judge Rachel Gagnon must determine whether Torres Acosta’s confessions concerning the child are admissible as evidence. The techniques of undercover agents must respect all rules of law, determined by laws.
Regardless of his decision, the trial will then continue.
Both sides will argue the issue of these confessions on Friday. Then, the judge will take the case under advisement to consider it. She will make her decision in a few weeks.
Diana Torres Acosta, a 42-year-old woman of Colombian origin, was formally charged with involuntary homicide in December 2021. She was babysitting at her home at the time of the alleged acts. As her daycare was not compliant or registered with the Ministry of Families, it ceased its activities after the death of the little girl and the police investigation in July 2019.
