Boy was seen begging for food days before he starved to death

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KSAT/CNN/CNN Newsource/WKRC) – A child was seen begging for food days before he starved to death.

The murder trial of Brandon Cervera, who is accused of starving his 4-year-old son to death in 2021, resumed Monday, with jurors shown new cellphone and home surveillance videos of the little boy begging for food and crying.

A heartbreaking video of four-year-old Benjamin Cervera was presented to the court just days before he died of starvation. Footage from cellphones and surveillance cameras in the apartment where Benjamin lived with his father, stepmother and siblings showed the boy pleading, “Daddy, Daddy, can I have bread?”

Several videos recorded in early June 2021 show Benjamin in the kitchen in the middle of the night, eating fruit, cookies, Jell-O and a fruit cup and also getting some milk. Benjamin went into the kitchen several times to find something to eat and drink. Over time, it became more and more difficult for him as more locks were added to cabinets and the refrigerator.

San Antonio Police Department Detective Lawrence Saez told jurors that the cell phone videos came from his stepmother's phone and surveillance was from Brandon Cervera's cameras. In total, the jury was shown more than 30 videos.

The state is trying to prove to the jury that Benjamin was not given food. Text messages read to the jury by Brandon and his ex-wife in August 2021 included an exchange in which Brandon told her to just give Benjamin bread and said, “He doesn't have to eat dinner.”

If convicted, Cervera faces life in prison.