The Mexico State Court found Monday that while Roxana Ruiz had been r3ped, she was guilty of homicide with “excessive use of legitimate defense,” adding that hitting her attacker in the head would have been enough to defend herself.
Ruiz’s lawyers swiftly slammed the ruling as “discriminatory” and vowed to appeal, arguing that it sets a bad precedent in a country plagued by gender-based violence.
“It’s sending the message to women that, you know what, the law says you can defend yourself, but only to a point,” said Ángel Carrera, Ruiz’s defense attorney.
“He r3ped you, but you don’t have the right to do anything.”
Women’s rights activists also condemned the court decision, saying that it is representative of Mexico’s poor record of holding accused r3pists accountable.
On top of her prison sentence of six years and two months, the 23-year-old single mother was also ordered to pay more than $16,000 in restitution to the family of the man who r3ped her.
Outside the courtroom, supporters carried signs and chanted “Justice!”
A tearful Ruiz stood before the crowd, thanking feminist groups and those who had supported her through the years-long judicial process.
Speaking to the crowd, she said she was thinking of her 4-year-old son.
“My son, I hope to see him again. I hope to stay with him, to be the one who watches him grow up,” Ruiz said.
In May 2021, Ruiz was selling French fries in Nezahualcoyotl, one of the 11 municipalities in the State of Mexico with an ongoing gender alert for femicides, and another one for forced disappearances of women.
While having a beer with a friend, Ruiz, an indigenous Mixteca woman and a single mother, met a man she had seen around the neighborhood.
After hanging out, he offered to walk her home and later asked to stay the night because it was late and he was far from his house.
Ruiz agreed to let him sleep on a mattress on the floor. But while she slept, he climbed onto her bed, hit her, tore off her clothes and r3ped her, according to Ruiz’s lawyers.
