Posted on 06/25/2005 5:15:44 PM PDT by aculeus
A Spanish mother has taken revenge on the man who raped her 13-year-old daughter at knifepoint by dousing him in petrol and setting him alight. He died of his injuries in hospital on Friday.
Antonio Cosme Velasco Soriano, 69, had been sent to jail for nine years in 1998, but was let out on a three-day pass and returned to his home town of Benejúzar, 30 miles south of Alicante, on the Costa Blanca.
While there, he passed his victim's mother in the street and allegedly taunted her about the attack. He is said to have called out "How's your daughter?", before heading into a crowded bar.
Shortly after, the woman walked into the bar, poured a bottle of petrol over Soriano and lit a match. She watched as the flames engulfed him, before walking out.
The woman fled to Alicante, where she was arrested the same evening. When she appeared in court the next day in the town of Orihuela, she was cheered and clapped by a crowd, who shouted "Bravo!" and "Well done!"
A judge ordered her to be held in prison and undergo psychiatric tests, provoking anger from friends and neighbours, who have set up a petition calling for her release.
Soriano suffered 60 per cent burns in the attack on June 13 and was airlifted to a specialist unit. He survived for 11 days before succumbing to his injuries.
It is understood that the woman, who cannot be named because of laws safeguarding the identity of rape victims, claims to have no recollection of the attack which took place in the Bar Mary, just 300 yards from the family home.
As decorators painted over the blackened walls of his bar last week, Antonio Ferrendez Lopez told how Soriano had walked in at lunchtime.
"The place was packed with people eating. I was sitting at a table and Soriano was standing at the bar very close to me when the woman walked in," he said. "She didn't acknowledge anyone but walked up to Soriano, who was drinking a coffee, put her hand on his shoulder and turned him round to face her.
"Then she pulled the bottle she was carrying from under her arm and began to tip it over him. At first I didn't realise what was happening, but then I smelt the petrol. I jumped up and tried to grab her, but when she struck a match I got clear.
"The petrol was in a pool around Soriano, and she threw the match into it. It ignited with a whoosh, and he screamed and staggered about covered in flames. As people rushed outside to escape the flames, she just looked at him, then turned and walked away."
Customers helped Mr Lopez put out the fire with extinguishers and doused Soriano with water until paramedics arrived.
Soriano's attack on the woman's teenage daughter took place in 1998. The girl was going to buy a loaf of bread when Soriano snatched her from the street, threatened her with a knife and raped her. Her mother is said to have suffered mental illness ever since.
Soriano was convicted of the rape and ordered to serve 13 years in jail. The sentence was later reduced to nine years on appeal.
The woman's lawyer, Joaquín Galant, told The Sunday Telegraph last night: "The family has suffered a double tragedy. First the attack on their daughter and now this. Both the father and his daughter would like to express their sadness at the death of Soriano."
Earlier, Mr Galant said that the woman did not deserve to be kept in prison. "For seven years she has been deeply affected by what was done to her daughter," he said. "This man, fresh from prison and asking how her daughter was, might be considered to have provoked her."
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I hope the nurses came by each night and yanked his scabs off.
If we can ever get control of the National Endowment for th Arts, maybe we can get her a grant.
She allowed the law to set his punishment for years. What he said to this mother could be considered a threat.
As a mother myself, my first thought would be that he meant my daughter even more harm, if not that very day then at some point in the future.
The law was obviously not capable of protecting this family from the bastard rapist and she was forced to defend her child in a desperate way.
Different case, I think. This guy ruined both mother and daughter 's lives, got out early, and gloated. I think he got what he deserved.
"Ah, no worries. It's only a flesh wound".
People will have justice. It was an appropriate death. The creature could not control the internal fire that consumed him, thus he was consumed by external fire.
Liberal Interpretation:
The alleged convicted rapist was actually inquiring about
the daughters present condition, hoping he would hear that
she had recovered from his "brief moment of insanity".
When the mother didn't respond, he sadly walked into the bar to drown his sorrow for the wrongs he had done.
But the mother, herself a victim of unenlightened male
chauvinist societal pressure, acted out against all repressive males in her life, and mercilessly tortured, maimed, and eventually snuffed out the life of Soriano.
He never was given a chance. In fact, Soriano was described
by some of friends as "caring", inquisitive (he was very interested in artistic depictions of rotting flesh), but
also as "bold", "stark", and always defying convention.
We will be a lesser people without the likes of him.
He was just a product of his environment, and of his
genetic makeup. He is not at fault, rather it is us
who have not been there to guide him.
And finally, what did Bush know and when?
The Rule of Law starts to break down when you allow verbal assaults, even from convicted criminals, to be dealt with by murder.
He deserved a good killin'. But it's not entirely right.
What the mother did was wrong.
She needs a program and free counseling. Then she can give talks to kids in high schools on various ways not to kill rapists. For instance, death by fire is more painful than death by knife but both have the advantage of being slower than death by shotgun. Well, maybe "advantage" isn't the right word...
Later, Hollyweird could make a movie about the mother's story. The movie would have close ups of the rapist screaming while he's almost burned alive. The camera can come in close and shoot the face and body from different angles. You know, the way they shoot a picture of a woman being raped. Not that Hollyweird would be encouraging anyone to kill a rapist...
she was just answering the question he asked her
She allowed the law to set his punishment for years. What he said to this mother could be considered a threat.
As a mother myself, my first thought would be that he meant my daughter even more harm, if not that very day then at some point in the future.
The law was obviously not capable of protecting this family from the bastard rapist and she was forced to defend her child in a desperate way.
Agreed.
But if it were MY daughter and the guy ruined my daugher's life (by raping her), my wife's life (by making her crazy), and by extension, my life, then got an early release and TAUNTED me...well...Annie Lennox said it best in her song: "Thin Line Between Love And Hate"
It's a thin line between love and hate
It's a thin line between love and hate
It's five o'clock in the morning
And you're just getting in
A knock upon the door
A voice sweet and low says
(who is it?)
She opens up the door
And she lets you in
And never once does she say
"where have you been?"
She says, hold it,
Are you hungry, did you eat yet,
Let me hang up your coat now"
And all the time she's smiling
Never raises her voice
It's five o'clock in the morning
And you dn't give it a second thought
It's a thin line between love and hate
It's a thin line between love and hate
The sweetest woman in the world
Could be the meanest woman in the world
If you make her be that way
She might be holding something in
That's really gonna hurt you
One of these fine days
There you are in the hospital
Bandaged from foot to head
In a state of shock
That much from bein' dead
You didn't think your woman
Could do something like that to you
You didn't think she'd got the nerve
Actions speak louder than words
Louder than words
Louder than words
Louder than words,come on
Come on, baby, baby
If you won't give a damn about me
Come on baby,bay
You don't really care about me
Hear what I say
Hear what I say
On several levels, this is a "Huh?"
Myself, I'm sadder about his life.
Dan
As another poster here said "People will have justice." That is something the SC should have considered. When a developer or pol is immolated over an eminent domain case, would you vote to convict, or would you conclude our system has lost legitimacy?
And for good reason; at his age he shouldn't be smoking.
I pray the dear woman will now find some measure of rest and peace in her soul, after all these years of suffering. She closed the book on this piece of scum.
Let's send this woman to Pakistan to teach the Muslims how to perform a real honor killing.
Just using your post to make a point. I dont mean it to be specifically directed at you.
Fully Christian here. No problem whatsoever.
Christians are different...I completely understand why there would be some difficulty, I just got over it.
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