Karina del Pozo murderers are sentenced

David Pina, Manuel Gomez, Jose Antonio Sevilla

Between cries of the relatives of Karina del Pozo, the Seventh President of the Criminal Court, Susan Najera, read the sentence that condemned to 25 years behind bars the accused of the murder of the young woman.

Yesterday the Court convicted Jose Antonio Sevilla Freire, Manuel Gustavo Gomez Salazar and Giovanni David Pina Bueno, as those responsible for the murder of Karina del Pozo, and gave them the maximum punishment as it was prescribed for more than six months. The girl’s body was found on September 27 in a ravine in Llano Chico (outside of Quito).

In the sentence imposed unanimously by the court, also involved the judges Carlos Borja and Marlin Calderon, it was specified that no sentence reductions may apply, and that those convicted should pay compensation for the moral damages to the family of the victim. This amount will be indicated in the written judgment.

Jose Sevilla and David Pina remained undaunted while Manuel Salazar could not stop crying. During the trial Manuel Gomez said that it was David Pina who hit Karina on the head with a stone, this said that he did not remember being in Llano Chico. While Jose Sevilla maintained himself with the right of silence.

In another case of international femicide, the court ruled the four men who raped and killed a young Indian woman in New Delhi. The verdict came after seven months of closed-door court proceedings, during that time the fifth defendant hanged himself in his cell. According to Rajesh Singh, a resident of the neighborhood of Ravidass Camp, “Now that they have been found guilty, he should be hanged. There can be no other choice.”