On August 13, the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice confirmed the sentence of 23 years and 3 months in prison imposed on Carmen Alberto Mendoza Ortiz, accused of continuously raping his 5-year-old stepgrandmother.
This decision is contained in judgment 455, drafted by Judge Maikel Moreno and ratified by his colleagues in the courtroom, Carmen Marisela Castro and Elsa Gómez.
The events were reported in September 2018 to the Cicpc of San Cristóbal (Táchira), where the victim reported that since she was 5 years old, her stepfather Carmen Alberto touched her private parts, among other abuses, says the sentence.
Some of these attacks were committed by the subject in the presence of his wife, that is, the girl’s grandmother, according to the investigation by the 16th Prosecutor’s Office of the Public Ministry. “He threatened to cut off my hand if I said anything,” said the victim in her statement to the CICPC.
In light of these facts, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, represented by prosecutor Nancy Granados Sandoval, requested that a trial be opened against Mendoza Ortiz through an indictment filed on November 9, 2018 before the Control Court with Jurisdiction over Crimes of Violence against Women in Táchira.
In the accusation, the subject is presented as the alleged perpetrator of the crime of sexual abuse of a girl with continued penetration.
The aforementioned court ordered the opening of a trial against the accused and ratified the arrest warrant for Aura Barillas, the girl’s grandmother.
Mendoza Ortiz’s trial began on October 24, 2019, at the Circuit Court for Crimes of Violence Against Women in Táchira State and concluded on December 10, 2020, when he was found guilty and sentenced to 23 years and 3 months in prison. The Court set the Western Penitentiary Center, located in Santa Ana del Táchira, as the place of confinement.
The following week, that decision was appealed by attorney Gladys Josefina González, the first criminal public defender assigned to the accused.
The response to this appeal was issued on January 29 by the Court of Appeals with Jurisdiction for Crimes of Violence against Women, which rejected the public defender’s request and confirmed the sentence imposed.
On March 11, another public defender assigned to the now convicted man went to the Criminal Court to request the annulment of the conviction and, consequently, that a new trial be called against Mendoza Ortiz.
Yolimar Carolina Vera Ramírez, public defender in matters of Crimes of Violence Against Women, argued that previously approved evidence was not aired during the trial.
The judges responded that this statement is not a matter to be addressed in an appeal, and that what happened in the trial can be challenged by an appeals court.
Under these circumstances, the Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the sentence imposed on the accused.
