Latest news with #Asunta
Daily Mirror
02-08-2025
- Daily Mirror
Evil couple kill 12-year-old daughter by drugging and suffocating her
A cruel couple told police their daughter had disappeared from their family home - but it became clear they'd drugged and suffocated her, leaving her for dead on a country road To the outside world, they looked like the perfect family - Rosario Porto and her husband Alfonso Basterra were in their mid-30s when they adopted a baby girl. According to The Guardian, Punto, a lawyer from Santiago de Compostela, northern Spain, and Basterra, a journalist from the Basque Country, had had no trouble persuading local Spanish authorities that they would make good parents. The wealthy Spanish couple adopted Asunta Fong Yang as a baby, but when she was just 12 years old, she was found dead beside a country road. READ MORE: Man murdered by ex-girlfriend on Christmas Day tragically predicted his own death Porto even appeared on local television to share her wisdom and experience about adopting. At first, things were great - Asunta was so bright she skipped an academic year, and the family's privilege meant she could enjoy private classes in English, French, Chinese, ballet, violin, and piano. 'She once told us what her Saturdays were like,' Asunta's ballet teacher, an English woman named Gail Brevitt, recalled. 'She got up at 7 am, did Chinese from 8 until 10, came to ballet from 10.15 to 12.30, then did French until lunchtime. And then there was violin and piano.' To the outside world, everything looked like a dream. Carmen González, the family's cleaner and nanny, said: 'To me they seemed an idyllic family." But behind closed doors, things were far from perfect. In 2009, Porto spent two nights in a private psychiatric hospital, saying she felt suicidal, apathetic, and guilty. Then, in 2013, she and Basterra divorced after Porto lost both her parents in the preceding 18 months and admitted to having an affair. Despite their struggles, no one suspected they were capable of murdering the child they had adopted. But on September 22, 2013, Rosario Porto and Alfonso Basterra reported Asunta missing. The police record noted that Asunta had been left at her mother's apartment doing her homework at 7 pm while Porto went to the family's country house 20 minutes away. Even though there was no physical evidence, such as fingerprints or fibres, linking Porto to the girl's corpse, the police had CCTV evidence from a camera at a petrol station near her apartment. The footage showed Porto driving the family's car towards their country house with a long-haired girl sitting beside her. The timecode revealed the footage had been taken at a time when, according to Porto's versions of events, Asunta was meant to be at home. When shown the video, Porto admitted the passenger was her daughter, but claimed Asunta felt ill and was later taken home. But police noted that when they had taken her to the country house hours after the body was found, the mum rushed towards a room that contained a wastepaper basket with bits of orange baler twine inside. The twine was similar to some found next to the body, which, investigators concluded, must have been used to tie Asunta's limbs together. However, forensic scientists were unable to prove bits found on the corpse came from the house. In addition to the CCTV footage, forensic results suggested Asunta had been drugged and then smothered. Tests of Asunta's blood and urine revealed toxic levels of lorazepam – the main active ingredient in the Orfidal pills that Porto had been prescribed to help with her anxiety attacks. Meanwhile, teachers at two music academies recalled that in the months before her death, Asunta had been unable to read her sheet music or walk straight. 'I took some white powders,' she told Isabel Bello, who ran one of the academies. 'I don't know what they are giving me. No one tells me the truth,' she complained to a violin teacher. Forensic scientists tested a strand of Asunta's hair and discovered the presence of lorazepam along the first three centimetres and concluded she had also been ingesting smaller doses of the drug for three months. Investigators believed Porto murdered Asunta, but she wouldn't have been able to lift the body alone, as she was slight and only 4ft 8in tall. In October 2015, the prosecution laid out its case before a jury, claiming the couple devised a plan to kill their own daughter – though they eventually downgraded the charges against Basterra, saying he was an accomplice to his ex-wife's murder plot. Asunta, the jury was told, had somehow been made to swallow at least 27 ground-up pills – nine times as powerful as a strong adult dose – on the day she died. The judge handed Basterra and Porto 18-year sentences, as the crime was committed before a new law introduced life sentences for child murderers. Both have appealed to have their convictions overturned.
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Asunta Lakra to be pitched for Padma Awards
Gumla: Simdega district administration has nominated Asunta Lakra, former captain of senior women's national hockey team and a local resident, for the 2026 Padma awards. Deputy commissioner Kanchan Singh on Saturday held a meeting to shortlist the nominations for the awards. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Asunta's name for her outstanding contribution in the field of sports. The nomination committee has decided on her (Asunta). We are sending the same to state committee after going through her achievements and related documents at the meeting," Singh said. Making her international debut at U 18 girls hockey cup in Hongkong in 2000, Asunta emerged as a dependable midfielder and went on to become the backbone of national women's team for almost 8 years. She has the credit of playing Junior Women's World Cup in 2005 and senior women's World Cup, Commonwealth Games and Senior Asia Cup twice. She also played Olympic qualifiers as well. She was part of the silver medal winning national team at 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games. Notably, the annual Hockey India's Upcoming Player of the Year has already been named after her.
