Mexican Court Withdraws Prison Sentence Of Woman Who Killed Her Rapist

The increasing number of rape cases around the world is a major concern for women’s safety. The law assists rape survivors, but the road to justice is usually long. There has been a lot of emphasis on the part that women should know self-defence to get themselves out of dangerous situations but exercising self-defence against her offender recently landed a Mexican woman in jail.

When a person sexually assaults and attacks a woman, the woman tries her best to defend herself from the assault. Self-defence can inflict serious injuries on the offender often saving a woman from that situation or giving women an upper hand.

However, in Mexico, a woman was sentenced to prison time for killing her sexual offender during self-defence. The court's decision on her case faced a lot of backlash from the public and the authorities recently had to take back the sentence, declaring her innocent in the final order. Here's all you need to know about the case.

Woman Sentenced for killing rapist: 10 Things To Know

1. A 23-year-old Indigenous woman named Roxana Ruiz is a single mother of a four-year-old boy and she worked in Nezahualcoyotl as a french fries seller in 2021 when the incident happened.

2. In May of that year, she had a drink with two of her friends, including a male friend who offered to walk her home that night. When they reached her place, he asked her if he could stay the night as it was really late to which Ruiz agreed as he was a friend.

3. The two slept in different beds but allegedly, the man came on to her and raped her. She tried to defend herself but he was able to assault her sexually. He later tried to kill her and in her defence, she hit him in the head during the struggle.

4. The man died, something which scared Ruiz and she put his body in a bag and was dragging it out on the street when she was caught by the police officers who were passing by.

5. She tried to explain that she was innocent and she was trying to defend herself and even claimed that she was raped. However, the police did not even do the necessary examinations that are initiated in sexual violence cases and arrested her on homicide charges.

6. She was presented before the court that found her guilty of killing the man by excessive use of self-defence and was sentenced to six years in prison along with more than 16,000 dollars in compensation to her rapist's family.

7. The decision received a lot of backlash and protests from the public and women’s welfare groups who protested against the unjust verdict which, they claimed, criminalised rape survivors and protected the sexual offenders.

8. When the outrage increased, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador reportedly said that Ruiz would be pardoned but her lawyers refused as this would make it seem as if she was accepting her crime despite being completely innocent.

9. On May 20, 2023, the state Prosecutor's office released a statement that since Ruiz belongs to a vulnerable group, she was exempt from guilt and her self-defence claims were accepted.

10. The announcement was celebrated by the people who protested for her and her lawyer Ange Carrera, who believes it will set an example for sexual offence cases in the country.

Photo Credits: ABP Live-ABP News

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