A judge in Ensenada on Friday sentenced three Mexican men to 158 years and nine months each for the 2024 murders of Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad. ABC News reported the sentences on Saturday.

Judge Raúl Hernández Arellano said the attack was a serious crime, made worse because the tourists were unarmed and were attacked at night in a remote place. He said the three men had time to think and still went ahead. The defence said it would appeal; it has 10 days, ABC reported.

Jesús Gerardo, known as “El Kekas”, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús — full names withheld for legal reasons, ABC wrote — were found guilty last week of aggravated homicide and related offences in a judge-only trial. SBS News also listed aggravated robbery, robbery with violence and vehicle theft with violence.

The men were ordered to pay 1,980,728 pesos for the brothers’ murders and 549,550 pesos for Rhoad’s murder, ABC reported. SBS said the Ensenada court ordered compensation, citing a Baja California judiciary official.

The Perth brothers and Rhoad were killed in April 2024 on a surfing trip in Baja California. SBS said they were camping near Punta San José, about 80 kilometres south of Ensenada, when they were reported missing in late April. Their bodies were found on 3 May at the bottom of a well; police said each had gunshot wounds to the head.

Prosecutors told the trial the trio tried to carjack the tourists, who were shot when they resisted; their ute was later found burned nearby, SBS reported. Prosecutors had initially sought 210 years each. ABC said the prosecution described a robbery gone wrong; the defence argued there was not enough evidence.

Parents Debra and Martin Robinson travelled from Western Australia for the four-week trial and were in court for last week’s guilty verdict. They returned home and followed Friday’s sentencing remotely from Melbourne. “No sentence, no matter how long, will ever bring our beautiful boys back,” they said. They took some comfort that the men would be removed from society.

Rhoad’s mother, Page, thanked the judge. She said nothing could recover her son, but that no other families would be victims of these men. The sentences are not final while an appeal is planned.

Image: Isaacvp, Parque de las 3 cabezas, Ensenada, 25 September 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. A park in the trial city, not the courtroom and not Punta San José.

Sources consulted: Killers each sentenced to 158 years' jail over murders of Jake and Callum Robinson in Mexico — ABC News; Parents of slain Australian surfers 'take some comfort' in killers' 158-year jail sentence — SBS News.