Ensenada (Mexico) (AFP) – A Mexican judge on Friday is expected to issue sentences for three men convicted of murdering two Australian surfers and their American friend in 2024, in a case that drew global condemnation. 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 during an attempted robbery.
They were camping in a remote beachside area near the city of Ensenada when they were attacked on April 27, 2024. Their bodies were found days later, dumped in a cliff-top well, with gunshot wounds to their heads. The callousness of their killings caused shock in Ensenada, a surfing mecca that attracts people from around the world to ride waves of up to four feet (1.2 meters).
The judge ruled last week that the three Mexican defendants, identified only by their first names — Jesus Gerardo, Irineo Francisco, and Angel Jesus — acted with premeditation. The Robinsons’ parents traveled from Australia for the month-long trial and left after the verdict.
– ‘Such cruelty’ –
They had spoken movingly in court about their loss. “It’s hard for a parent to lose a son, and we lost two sons,” Martin Robinson said. Debra Robinson stated that what hurt the most was that her sons “were treated with such cruelty” in their final hours. The prosecution initially requested 150 years’ imprisonment for each of the accused before later increasing that to 210 years.
The former girlfriend of Jesus Gerardo, who is accused of leading the attack, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in November for her role. She admitted to goading her boyfriend into stealing the pickup’s tires. She said her ex-boyfriend had sneered at the surfers’ pleas for their lives and bragged about items he robbed from them. A 9mm and a .45 caliber pistol were used in the attack.
Rhoad’s fiancée Natalie Weirtz and mother Page addressed the court by video link. Weirtz called for the accused to “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
