Woman who killed her rapist in self-defense sentenced to 6 years in prison

A Mexican woman who killed a man while he was raping her was sentenced to six years in prison for her act of self-defense.

Roxana Ruiz, 23, promised Tuesday to appeal the verdict with the support of multiple women’s rights groups in the country.

“It’s sending the message to women that, you know what, the law says you can defend yourself, but only to a point,” said her defense lawyer, Ángel Carrera. “He raped you, but you don’t have the right to do anything.”

Ruiz, a Indigenous Mixteca woman originally from Oaxaca, encountered the man in May 2021 while selling french fries in Nezahualcoyotl in the state of Mexico.

The two hung out at a restaurant with one of Ruiz’s friends, and the man later offered to walk her home. Ruiz, a single mother, allowed the man to sleep on a spare mattress in her house after he asked to stay the night since it was late and he was far from home.

While she slept, Ruiz said the man climbed onto her bed, hit her, tore off her clothes and raped her. Ruiz initially struck the man on the head, then continued to fight back and eventually killed him.

Ruiz said she panicked and put the man’s body in a bag. Passing cops noticed her dragging the bag and arrested her.

Even though Ruiz told officers she’d been raped, she never received a forensic examination, according to Carrera.

“I regret what I did, but if I hadn’t done it I would be dead today,” Ruiz said in a 2022 interview. “It’s evident that the state wants to shut us up, wants us to be submissive, wants us closed up inside, wants us dead.”

The court found that Ruiz had been raped, but was guilty of homicide by “excessive use of legitimate defense.” In addition to the six-year sentence, she was ordered to pay $16,000 to the man’s family.

“My son, I hope to see him again,” Ruiz said, referring to her 4-year-old child. “I hope to stay with him, to be the one who watches him grow up.”

With News Wire Services