MEXICO CITY, Mexico - An indigenous woman in Mexico, who was sentenced to six years and two months for killing her rapist, may not have to go to prison after all as a judge suspended her sentence on Wednesday, reported German news agency (dpa).
The judge suspended criminal proceedings at the request of the public prosecutor's office, who reviewed the case again and decided to withdraw the charges. The relatives of the deceased man can appeal.
The woman, known as Roxana R, was found guilty on May 15 of using excessive force to defend herself against her rapist in 2021. According to the report, the woman, 23, first knocked the perpetrator unconscious, strangled him, and finally tried to dismember the body. She kept the body for at least 20 hours and then brought it to the street in a plastic bag.
The court acknowledged that the woman acted in self-defence when she killed her attacker in 2021, but said she used excessive force.
When the verdict came out, the woman, in an interview with the news outlet Eme Equis, said, "it was my life or his life".
She said she feared for her life and "only wanted to defend my life from a rapist."
The single mother from the southern state of Oaxaca, who was supported by women's organisations, spent nine months in pre-trial detention before being released for the duration of the trial. - BERNAMA-dpa