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Conviction Brings Swift Conclusion To IJM Guatemala Case
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Monday, 09 November 2009

GUATEMALA CITY – One of IJM Guatemala’s longest-running cases came to a close in a whirlwind day in court on October 28, 2009, when Veronica’s* perpetrator was sentenced to sixteen years in jail for his long-term sexual abuse of the girl.

In January 2008, IJM Guatemala’s investigator began coordinating the arrest of the perpetrator, a man in his sixties who had been convicted of murder many years ago.
The perpetrator was a neighbor of Veronica’s, who one day had arrived at her school and told her she needed to come with him because there was something wrong with her parents. Veronica followed the man to a house, where he closed the door and raped her. The abuse continued for several months; Veronica became pregnant as a result and gave birth to a daughter in August 2007. She and her family filed a report, and in January 2008, IJM Guatemala’s investigator began coordinating the arrest of the perpetrator, a man in his sixties who had been convicted of murder many years ago.

The perpetrator managed to elude arrest; at one point IJM’s investigator and local police had everything in place to execute an arrest only to find that the perpetrator had been tipped off and moved to a new location. In the meantime, with the perpetrator absconded, the proceedings in Veronica’s case came to a standstill. IJM Guatemala’s investigator continued to search for the perpetrator, who owned a lumber business. The perpetrator had changed the name of his business and was hiding in the mountains, but though investigative work that involved trying to "buy" lumber, an arrest was facilitated on June 24, 2009, allowing the trial process to restart.

Veronica and her family, including her beautiful two-year-old daughter, are now living a life free from abuse.
In the Guatemalan justice system, trials often last months or even years, with a tribunal coming to a verdict after a series of hearings. However, in a set of proceedings unprecedented in IJM Guatemala’s history, on October 28, 2009, the panel of judges received all the evidence, listened to the testimony of Veronica and the other witnesses, heard the lawyers’ closing arguments and, after a recess, delivered their conviction of rape in continued form the afternoon of the same day.

Veronica and her family, including her beautiful two-year-old daughter, are now living a life free from abuse. Veronica is in school and hopes to begin classes to become a beautician next year, and continues to attend a support group for young mothers led by an IJM social worker.

 
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