Heartbreaking footage has emerged of paralyzed gang rape victim Noelia Castillo Ramos struggling to walk on crutches, just days after she decided to die by euthanasia.
Undated footage captures 25-year-old man being carried away in critical, makeshift condition step His father Geronimo Castillo cheers him on from behind.
“Machine,” he calls her, urging her forward as she struggles to move forward, and smiles briefly at the camera.
The clip resurfaced in the wake of Noelia’s death at an assisted living facility in Sant Pere de Ribes, near Barcelona, on Thursday – bringing a devastating end to a legal battle that has raged in Spain for more than 18 months.
His final moments were marked by a clear and unwavering message.
“I want to go in peace now and stop suffering,” she reportedly said, according to Spanish outlet Antena 3.
eleventh hour
Last words of paralyzed gang rape victim revealed before dying by euthanasia
goodbye noelia
25-year-old paralyzed gang rape victim dies by euthanasia after mother bids farewell
“The happiness of a father or mother cannot be more important than the happiness of a daughter.”
It is understood that Noelia died about 20 minutes after receiving the three injections.
He had asked to face death alone.
“I don’t want them to see me closing my eyes,” she said.
Despite his wishes, his final hours were heartbreaking.
Her mother, Yolanda Ramos, spent the night at her bedside, hoping her daughter would change her mind.
“I was praying and thinking… hopefully at the last moment she would say ‘I’m sorry’,” she said.
His father Geronimo, siblings and grandmother were also at the hospital after being given extra time with him before the procedure began at around 6.30 pm.
Outside, her best friend Carla Rodriguez was filmed crying after not being given a final chance to try to stop her.
Noelia died after a bitter legal battle with her father, who had desperately tried to prevent her euthanasia.
They argued that his mental health conditions could impair his ability to make “independent and conscious decisions” as required under Spanish law.
But ultimately the judges ruled that her choice was “free, conscious and informed”.
Her mother opposed euthanasia, saying that she would stand by her daughter regardless.
“There’s nothing else I can do. If you decide to move on, I’ll be there for you, but if you change your mind, I’ll be there for the good times, too.”
How to get help
Every 90 minutes a person dies by suicide in Britain.
It does not discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It is the biggest killer of people under 35, more deadly than cancer and car accidents.
And men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women.
Yet it is rarely talked about, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly wrath unless we all stop and pay attention.
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Noelia herself made her position clearly clear.
“I want to go now and stop suffering. No one in my family is in favor of euthanasia. But what about the pain I have endured all these years?” He said.
“I don’t feel like doing anything; neither going out, nor eating. It’s very difficult for me to sleep, and I have pain in my back and legs.”
Her ordeal began in 2022 – a turning point she said destroyed her life.
She spent much of her childhood in care due to her parents’ addiction and mental health issues.
She was later sexually abused by an ex-boyfriend, before she was gang-raped by three men days before she tried to take her own life.
“I didn’t report it because it was a few days before I tried to kill myself,” he said.
On October 4, 2022, he jumped from the fifth floor of the building after taking cocaine.
The fall caused severe spinal injury that left her paralyzed, resulting in persistent neuropathic pain, incontinence, and total loss of movement from the waist down.
Since then, she lived in a wheelchair – describing her suffering as unbearable.
“I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. It’s very difficult to sleep, and I have pain in my back and legs,” she said.
“I’ve always thought I’d die to look good. I’d wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it’d be something simple.”
His request to die began a lengthy legal battle.
Spain legalized euthanasia in 2021, allowing healthy-minded people with a “serious and incurable illness” or a “chronic and disabling” condition to seek assistance in dying.
Noelia’s case was approved by the Catalan Guarantees and Valuation Commission in 2024.
But her father, supported by Christian lawyers, fought to stop it – claiming that her suffering was not “unbearable” and that she had shown signs of changing her mind.
He also accused authorities of failing to protect vulnerable people.
The group later said: “At Christian Lawyers, we deeply regret her death and condemn that this case highlights serious flaws in euthanasia law, which does not protect the most vulnerable.
“We urge politicians to use her story to drive urgent change and prevent something like this from happening again.”
However, Noelia accused her father of ignoring her wishes.
“He has not respected my decision and he never will,” she said in a final interview.
“He wanted to put the house he bought in my name so he could continue collecting child support. After that, he doesn’t want to put the house in my name, or pay for the funeral, or the euthanasia, or attend the burial, and he says he doesn’t want to know anything more about me. To him I’m already dead.
“I understand. He’s a father and he doesn’t want to lose a daughter, but he doesn’t listen to me. He never calls me, he never writes to me. The only thing he does is bring me food. Why does he want to keep me alive? Keep me in the hospital?”
In contrast, her mother said she respected her daughter’s decision – even if it broke her.
Before the procedure, Noelia said goodbye to her family, but decided to die alone, surrounded only by four photographs of “happy” memories.
In a final message sent after learning the date of her euthanasia, she said: “Finally I’ve done it. Let’s see if I can finally rest because I can no longer take this family, the pain, everything that torments me, what I’ve gone through.
“I don’t want to be an example for anyone, it’s just my life, and that’s it.”
His death has reignited a fierce debate in Spain over euthanasia laws and the line between choice, suffering and safety.
