A Mexican judge has sentenced three men convicted of murdering Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their US friend Carter Rhoad to 158 years and nine months in jail each.
The Robinsons and Rhoad were killed in an apparent botched robbery of their truck on a secluded beach in Baja California in 2024 while they were on a surfing trip, the court heard during the trial.
The murders sent shockwaves around the world, particularly in Australia, as the area is usually safe from the violence seen in other parts of Mexico.
The guilty verdict was handed down last week. Debra Robinson, the brothers’ mother, told the courtroom that her sons’ murders had taken “the future we had imagined with them”.
The convicted killers’ full names were not given for legal reasons, meaning they were only identified as Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús.
In November last year, the girlfriend of the alleged ringleader, Jesús Gerardo (alias “El Kekas”), was sentenced in a separate trial to 20 years in prison. She had admitted to involvement in the robbery.
The court heard that the bodies of the victims were found dumped down a well with gunshot wounds to their heads.
At the time, the murders shocked locals and tourists in the beach town of Ensenada who were disturbed at the apparent ease and sheer pointlessness of the killings.
Ensenada has a reputation as a welcoming spot for surfers, but the chilling murders revealed how commonplace such extreme violence remains in Mexico.
The only explanation the authorities were able to give was that the surfers – all in their early 30s – had ultimately been murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Their killings happened barely 36 hours after they crossed into Mexico from the US. Their bodies, however, were not found for another week, when their families were able to identify them.
Local surfers also called for greater security for residents and visiting tourists, citing other recent examples of violence in the state. Tourism is a key part of the regional economy in Baja California.
