Jonatan Robaina sentenced to 38 years in prison for murdering Vanesa Santana
MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Supreme Court (TS) has rejected that a man who killed and raped his cousin in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) claims that he is a woman to get rid of 15 years in prison for the crime of sexual assault. Thus, the magistrates have dismissed the argument of the convicted person, who insisted that, since she felt she was a woman, she could not desire the victim and commit the rape during the murder.
For the Supreme Court, rape “constitutes an act that violates the sexual indemnity” of the murdered woman, “without the gender dysphoria that she claims to suffer being an obstacle or impediment to it.”
In this way, and in a sentence to which Europa Press has had access, the magistrates of the Criminal Chamber sentence Jonatan Robaina to 38 years in prison for the murder and rape of Vanesa Santana on the night of June 4, 2018 in the canary island
The author, who confessed to the Civil Guard four days later after leaving the jacket he was wearing forgotten at the scene of the crime and has never acknowledged the rape despite the testimony of experts, argued before the Supreme Court that he suffers from gender dysphoria and that, like “he doesn’t feel like a man”, “he doesn’t have sexual desires towards a woman”.
In the opinion of the magistrates, “nothing distorts the acts committed, nor does the rejection of the libidinous spirit, which does not go against his alleged dysphoria”, in line with what was sentenced in 2021, after a jury trial, by the Provincial Court of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and, later, by the Canarian Superior Court of Justice.
However, the Supreme partially upholds the resource of the perpetrator of the crime and, although it maintains the 15 years in prison for sexual assault, it lowers from 25 to 23 those for murder in competition with breaking and entering, by not appreciating the aggravating circumstances of taking advantage of previous place and time and costume.
The Supreme Court dismisses the claim of disguise, understanding that the hood he wore “at no time” prevented his identification “with total clarity”, given that his face was uncovered and at a short distance: “The fact of wearing a jacket with a hood on does not prevent or imply a clear disfigurement of the face”.
And he considers it “obvious” that the death was treacherous, but clarifies that the other aggravating circumstance does not occur, explaining that the conditions of time and place, “although they led to his not being recognized by third parties, it does not seem that they were sought by him” , for which the unlawfulness bonus required for it to be applied is not reached.
Where he does not give in is with a mitigating confession, since the TS says that his collaboration was not “relevant”. “It did not facilitate the investigation and resolution of the crime, nor was the recognition totally truthful or complete” by denying the rape to the victim, “trying to attribute the aggression to other people,” she specifies.
The magistrates consider that it was a late confession and that it was not decisive, apart from the fact that “there was evidence arising from the criminal investigation regarding the crime of sexual assault, where the accused denied the facts, which made his conviction possible.”
And they are opposed to acknowledging a defense of mental anomaly or alteration, given that at the trial the forensic doctors assured that perpetrating the murder, “without ruling out” that he suffers from mild mental retardation, did not prevent him from understanding the “creepy action”.
According to the proven facts, Jonatan Robaina sneaked into his cousin’s house with a key that he had stolen. Taking advantage of the fact that she was alone and equipped with gloves so as not to leave traces, he went up to Vanesa’s room, who was asleep, hit her about 30 times with a hammer on the head and suffocated her with a belt.
Once assured that his cousin was bleeding and seriously injured, in order to satisfy his sexual desire he raped her, before leaving without being able to hide the body or clean up all the blood.
As civil liability, the TS magistrates confirm that they have to pay compensation of 130,000 euros to each of the victim’s parents, 60,000 to the brother and 30,000 to the partner.
