HEARTBREAKING footage of paralysed gang-rape victim Noelia Castillo Ramos struggling to walk on crutches has emerged just days after she chose to die by euthanasia.
The undated footage captures taking fragile, tentative steps as her father, Geronimo Castillo, cheers her on from behind.
Heartbreaking video shows euthanised gang-rape victim Noelia Castillo RamosCredit: Okdiario
The footage shows her trying to walkCredit: Okdiario
The video captures the 25-year-old taking fragile, tentative stepsCredit: Okdiario
“Machine,” he calls her, urging her forward as she fights to move, briefly managing a smile towards the camera.
The clip has resurfaced in the wake of at an assisted living facility in Sant Pere de Ribes, near – bringing a devastating end to a legal battle that gripped for more than 18 months.
Her final moments were marked by a stark and unwavering message.
“I want to go now in peace and stop suffering,” she reportedly said, according to Spanish outlet Antena 3.
“The happiness of a father or mother cannot be more important than that of a daughter.”
Noelia is understood to have died around 20 minutes after receiving three injections.
She had asked to face death alone.
“I don’t want them to see me closing my eyes,” she said.
Despite her wishes, her final hours were surrounded by heartbreak.
Her mum, , clinging to hope her daughter would change her mind.
“I’ve been praying and thinking… hoping that at the last moment she’ll say ‘I regret it’,” she said.
Her father Geronimo, siblings and maternal grandmother were also at the hospital after being granted extra time with her before the procedure began at around 6.30pm.
Outside, her best friend Carla Rodriguez was filmed sobbing after being denied a final chance to try to stop her.
Noelia’s death followed a bitter legal fight with her father, who had desperately tried to block her .
He argued her mental conditions could impair her ability to make a “free and conscious decision”, as required under Spanish .
But judges ultimately ruled her choice was “free, conscious and informed”.
Her mother, while opposed to euthanasia, said she would stand by her daughter regardless.
“There’s nothing more I can do. If you decide to go ahead, 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 in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t 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’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net , 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- HUMEN www.wearehumen.org
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk , 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org , 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org , 116 123
Noelia herself had made her position brutally clear.
“I want to go now and stop suffering, period. None of my family is in favor of euthanasia. But what about all the pain I’ve suffered during all these years?” she said.
“I don’t feel like doing anything; not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult for me, and I have back and leg pain.”
Her ordeal began in 2022 – a turning point she said destroyed her life.
She had spent much of her childhood in care due to her parents’ addiction and struggles.
She was later sexually abused by an ex-boyfriend, before being gang-raped by three men just days before she tried to take her own life.
“I didn’t report it because it was days before I tried to kill myself,” she said.
On October 4, 2022, after taking cocaine, she jumped from a fifth-floor building.
The fall left her paraplegic, with a severe spinal cord injury that caused constant neuropathic pain, incontinence and total loss of movement from the waist down.
Since then, she had lived in a wheelchair – describing her suffering as unbearable.
“I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult, and I have back and leg pain,” she said.
“I’ve always thought I want to die looking good. I’ll wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it will be something simple.”
Her request to die triggered a prolonged legal battle.
Spain legalised euthanasia in 2021, allowing those of sound mind with a “serious and incurable illness” or a “chronic and disabling” condition to seek assistance to die.
Noelia’s case was approved by the Catalan Guarantee and Evaluation Commission in 2024.
But her father, backed by Christian Lawyers, fought to stop it – claiming 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 denounce that this case highlights the serious flaws in the euthanasia law, which does not protect the most vulnerable people.
“We urge politicians to use her story to drive urgent changes and prevent something like this from happening again.”
Noelia, however, accused her father of ignoring her wishes.
“He hasn’t 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 , or attend the euthanasia, or the burial, and he says he doesn’t want to know anything more about me. That for 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 me alive? To keep me in a hospital?”
Her mother, in contrast, said she respected her daughter’s decision – even as it broke her.
Before the procedure, Noelia said her goodbyes to her family but chose 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: “I’ve finally done it. Let’s see if I can finally rest because I can’t take this family anymore, the pain, everything that torments me from what I’ve been through.
“I don’t want to be an example for anyone, it’s simply my life, and that’s all.”
Her death has reignited fierce debate in Spain over euthanasia laws – and the line between choice, suffering and protection.
Noelia’s dad desperately tried to block her EuthanasiaCredit: Antena 3
Her mother, in contrast, said she respected her daughter’s decisionCredit: Unknown
Noelia’s case was approved by the Catalan Guarantee and Evaluation Commission in 2024Credit: Facebook
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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