The horrific true story may be the most difficult watch on the streaming platform (Image: Netflix)

A “horrifying” true crime documentary available to watch on Netflix has left viewers heartbroken after being rediscovered through social media.

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez, which first aired in 2020, tells the harrowing story of the 2013 murder and abuse of an eight-year-old boy from Palmdale, California.

The six-part series, which is perhaps one of the most difficult shows to watch on the streaming service, follows the horror that Gabriel endured at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.

He was found in his family home in LA with horrific injuries including a fractured skull and severe burn marks, as well as bite marks and injuries inflicted from a BB gun.

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Gabriel Fernandez died in 2013 aged eight (Image: Netflix)

His mother Pearl had rung emergency services to report that her son was not breathing after hitting his head, however, she later confessed to intentionally abusing the young boy.

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Gabriel was declared brain-dead and died two days later after he had been rushed to hospital.

The Netflix series uncovers the court proceedings around the case, as Pearl and her partner Isauro Aguirre were on trial as well as four social workers who had been tasked with looking out for Gabriel before he slipped through the cracks.

The episodes feature interviews with members of Gabriel’s family and people who knew him, courtroom testimony and psychologists and experts, questioning why he wasn’t saved before his tragic death.

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Gabriel was murdered by his mum and stepdad (Image: Netflix)

Viewers have described it as “the most horrifying crime documentary”, with one person writing in a Reddit thread: “The fact he wrote that letter to his mom as a school project, professing his love for his mom; all the while he was bald, bruised and battered is just heartbreaking. He was a little boy, a baby; and his innocent little soul did not deserve what those monsters did.”

“This. This is the part of the story that broke me,” another replied, as someone else said: “This broke me, I cried holding my son just beside myself.”

Referencing another part of the documentary where it was revealed that Gabriel had been forced to eat cat litter as a way to starve and humiliate him, another person said: “I think this is where I stopped watching. I couldn’t take it after that.”

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His mother Pearl was sentenced to life in prison (Image: Netflix)

Another person wrote: “This is the only docu that had me full on ugly girl crying. Could never watch it again. Horrible story.”

Someone else said: “At the end… I got up sobbing, just obliterated….defeated….tried to sob and hide and my SO followed me with a quiet hug,” as another agreed: “Heartbreaking.”

Someone else said: “Came here to say this. That stuck with me in such a deep way. It hurt my body physically to watch,” as several others admitted they were sobbing, with one person writing: “I don’t cry easily at all but this one tore me up.”

Yet another viewer wrote: “This was possibly the worst thing I have ever watched. I’ve told people who haven’t seen it to not watch it. Absolutely gut wrenching. I felt sick for days.”

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The harrowing documentary left viewers “broken” (Image: Netflix)

“The documentary is a really difficult watch but it’s an important one,” director Brian Knappenberger previously told EW.

“We made the decision that Gabriel’s voice needed to be heard, and in order to tell that story we had to be as honest and as straightforward as we possibly could.

“I think that in the end, this is a story of a kind of redemption, or a questioning of how things can be better in this system and that has motivated us to tell the story.”

He continued: “There’s no question parts of it are very, very intense. But, I think by following the case, the trials, how it was resolved, will help people learn how we can make the system better — which is really the heart of the piece.”

The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez is available to watch on Netflix.