Retribution Mother Sets Daughter’s Gloating Rapist on Fire
The Blaze
May 11, 2011

The Telegraph: (June 2005 story)

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.

Mari Carmen Garcia, Mother Who Set Fire To Her Daughter's Rapist, Released From Jail

First Posted: 03/ 4/11

A Spanish court has agreed to pardon a woman who set fire to a man found guilty of raping her 13-year-old daughter in 1998.

Maria Carmen Garcia was convicted of murder after dousing her daughter's attacker, known only as Antonio C.V., with gasoline and setting fire to him near her home in Benjuzar, near Alicante, on Spain's Costa Blanca in June 2005. He died in the hospital several days later, and though Garcia's case won her sympathy across the country, she was nonetheless sentenced to nine and a half years in jail, which was later reduced to five years on appeal.

Earlier this year, a petition comprising over 5,000 signatures was reportedly submitted to authorities in Elche calling for Garcia's release. According to the Telegraph, court officials cited "special circumstances" as the reason for the suspension of her sentence, after taking into account that Garcia had no previous criminal record and had pleaded temporary insanity at the time of the offense. She has reportedly served a total of one year and ten days in prison.

Still, the decision has since been slammed by the lawyer representing the family of the rapist.
"It seems that is lawful to take the law into one's own hands and kill people in a premeditated way," Antonio Martiniz Camacho told the Telegraph.