The two rapes marked a turning point in her life and she attempted to end her life, which instead resulted in her becoming paralyzed. Now she has had her wish fulfilled through assisted dying.

25-year-old Spaniard Noelia Castillo was raped on two occasions, once by her ex and another time by three migrant boys at a state youth home in 2022. The events deeply affected her, and that same year, under the influence of drugs, she tried to take her own life by jumping out of a fifth-floor apartment window. She had also previously overdosed on medication.

The fall left her paralyzed from the waist down and, according to medical reports, she suffered from severe chronic pain with no hope of improvement. On Thursday evening, she died through assisted dying at a care home in Barcelona.

The 25-year-old had been in psychiatric treatment since she was 13, after her parents separated. She was eventually diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD).

READ ALSO: Woman with depression receives assisted dying

The assisted dying came after a long legal battle with the woman’s father, which ended with a ruling in her favor from the European Court of Human Rights.

Her request for assisted dying was originally approved by a specialized expert committee in Catalonia in July 2024 with the procedure planned for August 2, 2024, but her father blocked it. He claimed his daughter’s mental illness impaired her ability to decide to end her life.

Two-Year Legal Battle

During an almost two-year legal struggle, he took the case through Spanish courts and finally reached the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, in February. The court rejected his arguments and found that there had been no violation of fundamental rights.

Finally, the father took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, where his request for interim measures to stop his daughter’s assisted dying was denied on March 10.

“I want to go in peace now and stop suffering, that’s it,” she said in her only interview with a TV channel.

“A father’s, a mother’s or a sister’s happiness cannot be more important than a daughter’s life.”

Alone at the Moment of Death

Castillo added that she always felt lonely and saw her world as very dark even before she requested assisted dying. She also spoke of the pain in her back and legs, and said it was very hard to sleep.

Her mother said she hoped her daughter would change her mind and stood by her “to the very end.” However, the daughter had made up her mind.

Although she had invited her family to say goodbye, she later wanted to be alone in her room at the care home at her time of death.

In 2021, Spain became the fourth EU country to legalize assisted suicide for people with incurable or severely disabling conditions.

The law was passed despite years of strong opposition from Catholic and conservative groups in the country.

A 2019 poll showed, however, that 90 percent of Spaniards supported decriminalization.

READ ALSO: Spain legalizes active euthanasia