A chilling moment was shared in a U.S. courtroom during the trial for the death of 4-year-old Benjamin Cervera, who died of starvation. The video showed the little boy pleading with his father for a piece of bread.

“Dad, dad, can I have a piece of bread?” the 4-year-old is heard saying, with his hands in front of his chest. The video, as stated in court, was recorded just days before he passed away on August 17, 2021.

According to the KSAT news channel, the boy was begging his father for bread, water, or milk before saying, “I want some bread.”

The heart-wrenching video, along with approximately 30 others presented during the trial, came from the stepmother’s phone and security cameras. In some of the footage, the boy is seen searching cabinets and the refrigerator for food in the middle of the night. In another video, the 4-year-old appears visibly bruised.

A medical examiner presented photos showing the boy’s injuries, emphasizing that they were not caused by the father’s attempts at resuscitation.

During the trial, it was revealed that 31-year-old Brandon Cervera, who faces a life sentence, had locked the cabinets to make it harder for the boy to find food. In one of the text messages exchanged with his ex-wife, the 31-year-old wrote about the 4-year-old, saying, “He doesn’t need to eat dinner.” In another message, he told her to give the boy only bread after she had reported the child’s desperate pleas for food.

The defense lawyers for the 31-year-old argue that the claim of starvation as the cause of the boy’s death is inaccurate, accusing the prosecution of misleading the court.