A mother was imprisoned for setting a man on fire who had raped her daughter.
In October 1998, 13-year-old Verónica Rodríguez García from Benejúzar in Alicante, Spain, was brutally raped at knifepoint by her 63-year-old neighbor, Antonio Cosme.
Cosme was convicted and sentenced to prison, but the nightmare didn’t end there.
According to Meaww, when the teenager accused her neighbor of the crime, the local community was split, with some people refusing to believe the accusations, while others supported her.
Verónica’s mother, María del Carmen García, was left to care for her traumatized daughter and deal with public scrutiny, all while seeking justice.
Antonio Cosme was sentenced to nine years in prison but was released on parole after seven years. It was during this period that he reportedly encountered María again.
In June 2005, Cosme allegedly approached María and asked her, as quoted by El Pais: “How’s your daughter?”
María then reportedly purchased a bottle of gasoline, found Cosme, doused him with the fuel, and set him on fire.
Cosme succumbed to the severe burns a week later.
In July 2009, María was found guilty of killing the rapist and was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in prison.
Public outrage led to petitions and appeals, with many arguing her actions were understandable given what Cosme had done to her daughter.
In 2010, her sentence was reduced to five-and-a-half years after her lawyer argued she had acted under temporary insanity. The sentence was put on hold in 2011 pending a pardon application, which was ultimately rejected in 2013, according to The Mirror.
Reports indicate that María was finally released in 2018.
García’s story was the basis for the HBO Max documentary series titled Hell on Earth: The Verónica Case.
A viewer of the documentary commented that María ‘wanted to make this doc to get the truth out because people in the village still believe he’s innocent, the mom is insane and the daughter is a w***e’.
“I am so angry at the world,” added the viewer.
In the docuseries, Verónica reportedly states: “My mom protected me and now that she’s free, I protect her from the media.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues discussed in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Alternatively, you can chat online at online.rainn.org