The case has been ongoing since 2014 (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The parents of an eight-year-old beat “every inch” of him, until he was dead, because he played with dolls, a court heard.

Pearl Fernandez, 30, and Isauro Aguirre, 34, beat their son Gabriel Fernandez in May 2013, the Los Angeles court was told by prosecutors.

The eight year old was beaten “for eight straight months”, and he was “tortured more severely than many prisoners of war.” The child wrote his own suicide note because he could no longer take the abuse.

On 22 May 2013, the parents called emergency services because they said their son was not breathing. She claimed he had fallen an hit his head on a dresser.

According to statements given by his two siblings, he was forced to eat cat faeces and rotten spinach and was not allowed to use the toilet. He was called gay, and beaten when he played with dolls.

He was beaten with a metal hanger, a belt buckle and lost multiple teeth when he was hit with a bat.

His siblings said he was taken to a bedroom and beaten until he was dead, as he would not clean up his toys.

Two social workers and two supervisors were sacked following the death of the 8-year-old. Every incident report concluded with no abuse, and a detailed report was never written up.