It's hard for a parent to lose a son, and we lost two sons,
Martin Robinson told a courtroom in Ensenada, Mexico, as the legal proceedings reached their conclusion.
A local judge in Baja California on Friday found three men guilty of the murders of two Australian brothers and their American friend, bringing a definitive legal milestone to a triple homicide that shocked communities across Mexico and drew international attention. Judge Raúl Hernández ruled in the coastal city of Ensenada that Jesús Gerardo García, also known as El Kekas,
alongside Irineo Francisco N
and Ángel Jesús N,
bore criminal responsibility for the killings of Callum and Jake Robinson and Carter Redd Rhoad in April 2024.
Beyond the murder convictions, the three defendants—who had already spent more than two years in custody awaiting trial—were found guilty of armed robbery and armed carjacking. Debra Robinson, the mother of the slain Australian brothers, addressed the courtroom during the final stages of the trial, telling those present that the murders had taken the future we had imagined with them,
cbsnews.com partner network BBC News reported. Both Debra and Martin Robinson maintained a constant presence at the court in Ensenada throughout the grueling trial.
The three victims had traveled to Baja California in April 2024 on a surfing trip. Shortly after arriving in the coastal town of Punta San Jose, roughly 50 miles south of Ensenada, communication ceased and they were officially reported missing. Extensive searches culminated on May 3, 2024, when investigators discovered their bodies inside a well. In the wake of the discovery, local residents and supporters placed photographs of the surfers on the beach in Ensenada to honor the victims.
García was arrested in May 2024 as the perpetrator, alongside his then-partner Ary Gisell Silva Raya, as well as Irineo Francisco N
and Ángel Jesús N.
Over the course of the monthlong trial, prosecutors presented chilling details concerning how the victims met their fate. Silva Raya testified during a hearing last month that García confessed to approaching the foreigners’ tent armed with a 9 mm pistol. According to her testimony, the victims immediately began throwing their belongings toward him in a desperate bid to prevent an attack, and one of them begged for his life—a plea that the gunman ignored.
State investigators established that Silva Raya arrived in Punta San Jose on April 27, 2024, where she encountered the three foreigners and subsequently instigated one of her companions to rob them,
an act carried out the following day. Authorities found one of the victims’ mobile phones in her possession. Following an expedited proceeding, Silva Raya pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence handed down in November 2025. In contrast, García and his two male accomplices opted to stand trial.
The Baja California State Attorney General's Office requested an exemplary sentence
of 210 years in prison for each of the three convicted men. Judge Hernández is scheduled to announce the final prison sentences on Oct. 16.
