12 the proceeding13; thus, the statements made by Ana María Contreras, Matilde Reyna Morales García, Rosa Angélica Vega, Julia Griselda Ramírez López, Osvelí Arcadio Joaquín Tema, Delfino Hernández García, Roberto Marroquín Urbina and Ayende Anselmo Ardiano Paz and the expert reports of Roberto Carlos Bux and Alberto Bovino during the public hearing held by this Court on the merits of the case on January 28 and 29, also form part of the evidence that will be considered during this stage. B) TESTIMONIAL EVIDENCE 54. During the public hearing on March 12, 2001, the Court received the statements of the witnesses proposed by the representatives of the victims’ next of kin and the Inter-American Commission. These statements are summarized below: a) Testimony Contreras of Ana María Contreras, mother of Henry Giovanni Henry Giovanni was a child who was devoted to his home and who went to school up to fourth year. His father had already died when he was born. She has three other children, all of them younger than Henry Giovanni: Shirley Marlen Agreda Contreras, 20 years of age, Mónica Renata Agreda Contreras, 18, and Osman Ravid Agreda Contreras, 16. The first two completed secretarial and computer training, respectively, and currently work selling lots; the youngest is studying in the third year of basic studies. The victim had an affectionate relationship with his siblings. One year before his death, the witness found out that Henry Giovanni had a son, Wilson Ravid Agreda Vázquez, and she took charge of the latter when his mother gave him to her. The child’s mother never came back for him. At that time, the child was two years of age and he is now 12. The witness has paid for his studies and his medical expenses since he was two, and it has been difficult to raise him, but he has been educated just as if he was another son of the family. Currently, she pays all his school expenses. Wilson suffers from his father’s absence. The reason why he does not appear as Henry Giovanni’s son on the birth record is that Henry Giovanni had not attained 18 years of age in order to recognize paternity; therefore, after he died, the father of his half-brothers, the witness’s husband, recognized the child as his son. Henry Giovanni lived at home officially until he was approximately 14 years of age, after which he began to live on the street, during irregular periods of time. The witness looked for him on the streets when a certain time had passed and he had not returned home, because she was concerned about him. Her husband - Henry Giovanni’s stepfather – humiliated him, particularly after his other three children were born, and this was the main reason that Henry Giovanni left the house. In the months before his death, the victim was already living at home again and Casa Alianza had found him a permanent, stable job in a printing shop, where he worked for five months for a monthly wage of 60 or 70 quetzales. Henry Giovanni began working when he was about 11 years of age in carpentry, plumbing, as a mechanic, 13 cf. Blake case. Reparations (Article 63(1) American Convention on Human Rights). Judgment of January 22, 1999. Series C No. 48, para. 28.