65 years for would-be child killer

A man has been given a 65 year sentence for kidnapping two children and leaving them to die. 

The courts in Madrid have found Juan Jose R.A. guilty of kidnapping two children, aged eight and 10, raping the girl and leaving them both to die in a well. He has been sentenced to 65 years.

The horrific events took place in Algete, Madrid, in 2011 and Juan Jose, having been found guilty on all counts of attempted murder, kidnapping and rape, will serve 65 years in prison as well as having to pay a fine of €800,000 for ‘moral damages’ to the two children.

He is also banned from entering the area of Torrelaguna, where the children live, for 60 years.

The courts consider that the prosecution have proven the following: that Juan Jose grabbed the two children when they were playing near their house and put them in his car to take them to an abandoned farmhouse.

Once there he threw the boy in a shallow well (around two metres deep) and took the girl to the farmhouse where he raped her.

He then took the boy out of the shallow well and threw him and his sister in a deeper well (around eight metres deep) and then threw rocks and tree trunks on top of them to ‘bury’ them.

He then abandoned the scene with no intention of returning.

The children were found, after two days, by passers-by who were walking their dogs.

The defence argued against the 65-year-sentence on the grounds that, at the time of the crime, Juan Jose was intoxicated by alcohol and drugs and, as such, was not in his right mind.

The prosecution ignored this argument, as did the judges.

Psychiatrists have testified that he was sane enough to know exactly what he was doing.

Juan Jose had received a prison sentence in 1983 for rape.

The two minors testified via video in order to minimise the negative impact that seeing their tormentor would have on them.