Community Rallies Around Assault Victim
Six weeks ago, Amy was attacked a block from her house in Atascadero. “The man tried to assault me sexually, then beat me when he was unsuccessful. The Prosecutor promised that the police would visit me again and that the attacker would be put on trial. Neither of those things happened.”
“As awful as the attack was, the really disheartening thing is how it is NOT being dealt with by the authorities!”
Hearing about situations like this make some people feel powerless, doubt local elected officials or lose faith in the judicial process. At a time when things looked bleak, Amy decided to post her story to the public. Afterwards, The San Miguel Herald spoke with her to get more perspective on the incident and her feelings on the responses by the community.
Amy told us, “I have had an overwhelming response of care and concern from both the expat and Mexican community about what happened to me. People I have never met have emailed me wonderful notes about how sorry they are to hear of the incident.”
It’s easy to let one’s guard down after being in a state of comfort for so long. She mentioned she’d learned from the feedback. “(I’ve learned) to be much more on guard no matter where (I am) or the time of day. It is easy to become careless if nothing bad has happened to you before. This happened to me on a beautiful Sunday morning less than 2 minutes from my home.”
Hundreds of comments were posted on social media and Amy received many directly. One of the things that has helped her, “is the encouragement I have received from people who have said to ‘go after this guy’, file formal charges and don’t let the bad guy win by just giving up on pursuing the matter. It has been good advice. I feel less of a victim because I am fighting back, and I have people all over SMA supporting me.”
She also wants locals to “be much more observant and encourage your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. Let each other know if you see something or someone that is out of the ordinary in your neighborhood just “hanging around”. The morning of my attack I had just been talking to four of my neighbors. Four other people saw this guy. We all thought he was acting strangely. My neighbors and I went our separate ways and that is when he followed me home and grabbed me from behind.”
Amy has filed charges against this man. She heard from the Prosecutor Tuesday who informed her that they have identified the assailant and that he has a criminal record. They intend to continue gathering evidence for all his crimes and prosecute him for all of them. We will update this article with any new developments.
It is encouraging to see the judicial system working, but at the same time, not every incident can receive this much attention. Many do not file the proper paperwork to report incidents and even then the shear number of cases to investigate and try poses a challenge for the legal system.
Only a small percentage of crimes are ever reported in Mexico, and San Miguel is no exception. According to the newspaper Reforma, “The probability of a crime being reported, investigated and solved is just 1.3%. Querétaro recorded the second highest prosecution rate at 3.2% followed by Guanajuato with 2.8%.
To put Mexico’s crime reporting and prosecution rates in some context, 43% of crimes are reported in the United States and approximately 60% of cases are solved. Those figures equate to a prosecution rate of 25.9%”
The original article is here:
Five weeks ago this Sunday I was attacked in the campo, a block from my house in Atascadero. The man tried to assault me sexually, and then beat me in the face when he was unsuccessful. My husband called 911 when I staggered home, bleeding, and the police did respond in about 20 minutes.
Because the attacker also stole my phone, we were able to track his location on my iPad. After much hesitation, the two police officers finally agreed to drive me to the attacker’s location and arrested him. I then went directly to the Prosecutor’s office and gave a signed declaration. A doctor examined me and photographed my injuries. The Prosecutor promised that the police would visit me again and that the attacker would be put on trial. Neither of those things happened. To my knowledge the man has been released, and the Prosecutor refuses to respond to my inquiries any more…My attacker has gotten off scot free, and my gringo friends tell me that it was unrealistic to think that anything else would happen.
Last night we tried to make a reservation at one of our favorite restaurants, La Bastide. The owner, Eric, told us that he had to close the restaurant permanently because of extortion demands from a criminal gang and that he is now returning to France. In spite of the declaration from several restaurant owners that there is no extortion in San Miguel, that is clearly not the case. I am told that at least three stores in Centro have recently closed for the same reason.
My husband and I have lived here for five years now, and there is nowhere else we’d rather be. However, if the crime rate continues to increase, and if San Miguel ends up like Ciudad de Juarez, we’ll reluctantly have to leave. What a sad and depressing state of affairs!
Article by the San Miguel Herald
