Crime & Justice

Mexican woman who killed rapist: Resisting sexual assault lands you in prison

By Cristina Sanchez Reyes

Mexico City, May 19 (EFE).- A Mexican woman who earlier this week was sentenced to more than six years in prison for killing her rapist in an act of “excessive” self-defense told Efe in an interview that she has been punished with prison time for the act of resisting sexual assault.

Now locked in an ongoing legal battle for her freedom, Roxana Ruiz said of her conviction for homicide with “excessive use of legitimate defense” that justice appears out of reach for her.

“We don’t think it’s coherent (or) fair that they sentenced me to six years, just because they think (the use of force) was excessive,” she said sobbing.

A native of the southern state of Oaxaca, Ruiz was sentenced by a state court in the central state of Mexico to six years, two months and seven days behind bars and ordered to pay 285,000 pesos (around $15,800) in restitution to her assailant’s family over the deadly incident, which occurred in May 2021.

The woman’s attorney, Angel Carrera, said the female judge found that Ruiz had been raped but still ruled that she employed excessive self-defense. He added that the verdict was unfair because a sexual assault had occurred and her client’s life was at risk.

“We don’t know if there’s a manual (stating how) Roxana should have acted differently, if there are steps (to follow),” he said.

Despite the guilty verdict, however, Ruiz has a key ally on her side, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said Friday he would study the possibility of keeping the woman out of prison by means of a presidential pardon.

The leftist head of state also criticized the “awful” justification for the guilty verdict provided by the judge, who found that Ruiz could have a employed a lesser amount of force to subdue the assailant.

On May 7, 2021, Roxana said she went with some friends to have a beer in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, a city in Mexico state.

When she was ready to leave the establishment, a man she knew offered to accompany her to her home.

Once there, according to Ruiz’s account of the incident, he insisted that she let him spend the night because he lived far away, so she agreed to let him sleep on the floor.

Later, she said the young man climbed onto her bed, beat and raped her and threatened to kill her.

During a struggle that ensued, Ruiz grabbed a T-shirt and used it to strangle her attacker.

Afterward, she placed the dead body inside a bag and took it out into the street, where police officers stopped and arrested her even though she told them she had been raped.

Ruiz spent nine months in pre-trial detention before being released thanks to the support of feminist organizations and the efforts of her attorneys.

The woman was charged with homicide and violating laws on the burial and exhumation of human remains.

Although she was acquitted of the latter charge, she was found guilty on the first count, which was subsequently reclassified as homicide with “excessive use of legitimate defense.”

The fight now pending is to appeal Ruiz’s prison sentence and keep her from being locked away a second time.

“This sets a precedent for women. If this ruling were to be upheld, women simply would have no way of defending themselves or would think, ‘if I defend myself, I’ll go to prison,’ which is the case of Roxana,” Carrera said.

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