158 Years Each: Three Men Convicted in Mexico for Murdering Australian and US Surfers
October 17, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Three men each received 158 years and nine months for the 2024 robbery-murder of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad in Baja California, Mexico. The defence has indicated it will appeal.
158 years and nine months. That is the sentence Judge Raul Hernandez Arellano imposed on each of three men convicted of murdering Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad in Baja California in April 2024, the BBC and ABC News reported from the courtroom in Ensenada on October 17.
The judge said the characteristics of the attack constituted a serious crime. The victims were unarmed, attacked at a remote location at night, and the three defendants had time to consider the act before going ahead. Jesús Gerardo, known by the alias "El Kekas" and identified in court as the ringleader, had a reputation as a violent hit man, ABC News reported from the trial. Irineo Francisco has links to the Sinaloa cartel, according to court documents cited by ABC News. The third convicted man, Ángel Jesús, was sentenced alongside them. Full surnames were withheld for legal reasons.
Jake Robinson, 31, was due to start work as a doctor at a Geelong hospital on returning to Australia, ABC News reported. His brother Callum, 32, was a lacrosse player based in San Diego. Carter Rhoad worked at a technology services company and was due to marry in August 2024, the Daily Mail reported. All three were on a surfing holiday when, the prosecution argued, they were robbed and shot on a remote beach, their bodies dumped down a well with gunshot wounds to their heads, the BBC reported.
The killings happened barely 36 hours after the three men crossed into Mexico from the United States, the BBC reported. Their bodies were not found for another week. Ari Gisell, the former girlfriend of El Kekas, told the court that Gerardo had recounted how the victims pleaded for their lives before being shot, and that he later joked about the men crying, the Daily Mail reported. She had already been sentenced to 20 years in prison in a separate trial, the BBC reported.
The court ordered the three convicted men to pay 1,980,728 pesos ($154,500) in compensation for the murders of the Robinson brothers, and a further 549,550 pesos ($45,000) for Rhoad's murder, ABC News reported.
The guilty verdicts were returned on October 9, the Daily Mail reported. Sentencing followed seven days later. The defence team has indicated it will appeal within the ten-day window allowed, ABC News reported. The prosecution had argued the three tourists were killed during a robbery gone wrong; the defence claimed insufficient evidence. The judge ruled that several witnesses had given credible and consistent testimony, the Daily Mail reported.
Jake and Callum's parents, Debra and Martin Robinson, attended every day of the trial and sat through six hours of closing arguments, the Daily Mail reported. They joined the sentencing hearing by video link from Melbourne. "No sentence, no matter how long, will ever bring our beautiful boys back or undo the devastating loss suffered by their family and friends," they said in a statement quoted by ABC News. Carter Rhoad's mother, Page, thanked the judge and told the court she was glad no other families would suffer what hers had, ABC News reported.
Ensenada had a reputation as a welcoming surf destination, but the killings exposed how common extreme violence remains even in parts of Mexico that tourists consider safe, the BBC noted. Local surfers called for greater security, citing other recent incidents of violence in the state, and tourism forms a key part of Baja California's regional economy, the BBC reported.
Three wooden statues overlook the North Baja coast in their honour, the Daily Mail reported. Their killers face 158 years inside.
Published October 17, 2026 · Frisian News