Three men jailed for 158 years each for murdering Australian and US surfers in Mexico
Brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their friend Carter Rhoad were killed on a surfing trip in an apparent botched robbery.
Three men sentenced to 158 years each for killing Australian and US surfers in Mexico
A Mexican judge has handed down sentences of 158 years and nine months in prison each to three men convicted of murdering Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, along with their US friend Carter Rhoad.
The Robinson brothers and Rhoad were killed in what appeared to be a botched robbery of their truck on a remote beach in Baja California in 2024 while they were on a surfing trip, the court was told during the trial.
The killings shocked people around the world, especially in Australia, because the area is generally considered safe compared with the violence seen elsewhere in Mexico.
The guilty verdict was delivered last week. Debra Robinson, the brothers’ mother, told the court that her sons’ deaths had taken “the future we had imagined with them”.
The convicted killers’ full names could not be released for legal reasons, and they were identified only as Jesús Gerardo, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús.
In November last year, the girlfriend of the alleged ringleader, Jesús Gerardo, also known as “El Kekas”, was sentenced in a separate case to 20 years in prison. She had admitted taking part in the robbery.
The court heard that the victims’ bodies were discovered dumped in a well with gunshot wounds to the head.
At the time, the murders stunned locals and tourists in the beach town of Ensenada, who were disturbed by the apparent ease and sheer pointlessness of the killings.
Ensenada is known as a welcoming destination for surfers, but the grim murders showed how common such extreme violence still is in Mexico.
Authorities could only explain that the surfers — all in their early 30s — had ultimately been killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The killings took place just 36 hours after they crossed into Mexico from the US. Their bodies were not found until a week later, when their families were able to identify them.
Local surfers also urged stronger security for residents and visiting tourists, pointing to other recent incidents of violence in the state. Tourism is a major part of the regional economy in Baja California.