A Mexican court on Friday handed down sentences of more than 158 years in prison to three men for the 2024 murders of two Australian surfers and their American friend, a case that provoked worldwide outrage.
The Robinson brothers, Jake, 30, and Callum, 33, along with their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were on a surfing holiday along Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were fatally shot in Baja California during an attempted robbery.
The attack occurred on April 27, 2024, while they were camping in a remote coastal spot near the city of Ensenada.
Their bodies, bearing gunshot wounds to the head, were discovered days later discarded in a well atop a cliff.
The brutality of the killings stunned Ensenada, a renowned surfing destination that draws visitors from all over the world.
Last week, Judge Raul Hernandez determined that the three Mexican defendants—identified only by their first names, Jesus Gerardo, Irineo Francisco, and Angel Jesus—had acted with premeditation.
Each of them received a sentence of 158 years and nine months on Friday.
Prosecutors had sought damages exceeding $100,000, but the judge denied the request, stating that any compensation would need to be sought through civil proceedings.
“There can never be justice for the loss of a son, but we are grateful that these men will never hurt anyone else,” Rhoad’s mother Page said after learning the verdict.
The Robinsons’ parents had come from Australia to Mexico for the month-long trial, and they departed once the verdict was delivered.
In court, they had spoken with deep emotion about their loss.
“It’s hard for a parent to lose a son, and we lost two sons,” Martin Robinson said.
Debra Robinson said the most painful part was that her sons “were treated with such cruelty” in their final hours.
The victims’ families watched the sentencing hearing through a video link.
The former girlfriend of Jesus Gerardo, who is accused of leading the attack, was handed a 20-year prison sentence in November.
She confessed that she urged her boyfriend to steal the tires from the pickup.
She stated that her ex-boyfriend had mocked the surfers as they begged for their lives and boasted about the items he had stolen from them.
The attack involved a 9mm pistol and a .45 caliber pistol.
Rhoad’s fiancee, Natalie Weirtz, and his mother, Page, spoke to the court via video link.
Weirtz urged that the accused “be punished so that no other family suffers the same pain.”
Baja California ranks among Mexico’s most violent states, troubled by organized crime and drug trafficking, though cartel activity typically does not impact tourists.
Other foreign visitors have been targeted in attacks along Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were killed in 2015 as they traveled through the northwestern state of Sinaloa. Their bodies were subsequently burned.
