Ensenada (Mexico) (AFP) – A Mexican judge on Friday convicted three men in the 2024 murders of two Australian surfers and their American friend, who were killed during a botched robbery that sparked international outrage. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33, respectively, and their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state in a suspected robbery. They were camping in a remote beachside area near the coastal city of Ensenada when they were attacked on April 27, 2024. Their bodies were found days later, dumped in a cliff-top shaft, with gunshot wounds to their heads. The judge ruled that the three Mexican defendants acted with premeditation. They have yet to be sentenced.
The Robinsons’ parents traveled from Australia for the month-long trial. Debra Robinson burst into tears when the guilty verdict was pronounced. In a statement on behalf of the family, Martin Robinson said that “while no verdict can ever bring back our boys or ease the heartbreak of losing them,” the convictions marked “an important step towards justice and accountability.” The prosecution has requested 210 years imprisonment for each of the accused, though the maximum sentence in Baja California is 60 years.
In its closing arguments on Thursday, the prosecution described the cold-blooded killings of the three surfers, who were caught off guard at their campsite. A 9mm and a .45 caliber pistol were used in the attack. The prosecutors recalled the testimony of the girlfriend of the main suspect, identified only as Jesus Gerardo, at her trial last November. She said that Rhoad had begged for his life and that her boyfriend, who is nicknamed “El Kekas,” had bragged about “how beautifully” the victims cried and about items he robbed from them. The girlfriend was sentenced to two decades in prison after admitting that she instigated the robbery in order to steal the pickup’s tires.
Testifying on the final day of the trial, Debra Robinson said what hurt herself and her husband the most was that “in their final hours” their sons “were treated with such cruelty.” Rhoad’s fiancée Natalie Weirtz told the court by video call that the accused “must be punished so that no other family suffers the same pain.” Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, plagued by organized crime and drug trafficking, although cartel activity doesn’t usually affect tourists. Other foreign visitors have been targeted in attacks on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were murdered in 2015 while traveling through the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Their bodies were later burned.
© 2024 AFP
