A young woman in Mexico has been jailed for six years for killing a man who assaulted and r*p*d her at her home two years ago.
The court acknowledged that the woman, named only as Roxana Ruiz, acted in self-defence when she killed her attacker in 2021, but said she used excessive force
The woman, 23, first knocked the man unconscious, then strangled him, and finally tried to dismember his body.
She kept the body for at least 20 hours before putting it in a plastic bag on the street.
The court said that it took into consideration the woman’s “vulnerability as a woman and as an indigenous person” in its sentencing.”
Roxana Ruiz will be appealing the sentence, which was handed down by Judge Mónica Osorio in Mexico, her attorney said.
‘I feel sad, disappointed in (the) justice (system), they locked me up for nine months, they give me a sentence,’ she said following the court hearing. ‘If I had not defended myself, I would be the dead one.’
Her lawyer, Ángel Carrera, fears that Osorio’s ruling could set ‘a bad precedent’ going forward if is not overturned.
‘It’s sending the message to women that, you know what, the law says you can defend yourself, but only to a point,’ he said. ‘He raped you, but you don’t have the right to do anything.’
Judge Osorio backed her sentencing by indicating that Ruiz ‘could have given him a blow to the head to defend herself and leaving him unconscious would have been enough.’
She also ordered Ruiz to make a $16,000 reparation payment to Sinai Cruz’s family.
The 23-year-old single mother was at a neighborhood bar having a drink with a friend on May 8, 2021, and ran into Cruz on her way home.
Cruz offered to walk her home and then insisted that she allow him to stay the night because it was late and his residence was too far.
Once inside, Cruz persisted that he be permitted to sleep in her bedroom, Ruiz agreed and provided him a blanket to lay on. At one point, Cruz jumped on the bed and attacked and raped Ruiz, who fought back by punching him in the face before choking him with a shirt until he was dead.
She stuffed Cruz’s body into a bag and dragged it out to the street, where a police officer on patrol took her into custody despite Ruiz telling him that she had been raped.
Ruiz was charged with homicide and spent nine months in jail but was conditionally released ahead of the trial.
She accused the police of making her relive the gruesome attack, claiming a cop told her that she wanted to have sex with Cruz before she backed out. She also said they repeatedly failed in providing access to a medical exam that would have confirmed her accusation against Cruz.
In a 2022 interview with The Associated Press, Ruiz acknowledged remorse over her actions but said she had no other choice because she would have been dead.
‘It’s evident that the state wants to shut us up, wants us to be submissive, wants us closed up inside, wants us dead,’ she said.