In June 2005, María del Carmen García was waiting for a bus in Spain when a car pulled up and a man got out—her daughter's rapist, who had been granted temporary release from prison without her knowledge. She ran to a nearby petrol station, filled a bottle with fuel, and set him alight at a bar where he was having breakfast. The man died 10 days later from burns covering 60% of his body.
Background of the Crime
In 1998, García's 13-year-old daughter, Verónica, was sent to fetch bread from a bakery in Benejúzar, a municipality in the Valencian Community. On the way, she stopped to visit a stray dog, but when she called out, it did not come. Instead, local bricklayer Antonio 'Pincelito' Cosme, 62, placed his hands on her shoulders.
Cosme, described as a "man of few words," brandished a knife and threatened to kill Verónica if she screamed. He dragged her to some trees and raped her. Afterward, as recorded by Gema Peñalosa in her book "Fuego" (Fire), he said: "I'll let you go, but if you tell your mother, I'll slit your throat with a 'corvilla' [an agricultural tool]."
The Mother's First Response
Verónica returned home and immediately told her mother. García took a knife and went to Cosme's house. Peñalosa writes: "That Saturday in October, after 'Pincelito' raped Verónica, Mari Carmen [...] crossed the street without looking both ways and headed toward Antonio Cosme’s house, a knife in her hand."
When Cosme answered the door in his pyjamas, he denied the assault, claiming he had just woken up. García shouted: "You don’t deserve to live! You son of a b****. You son of a b****!" Neighbours took her home, and some initially rallied around Cosme, suggesting the family was trying to extort money or that the act was impossible due to his age.
A medical report confirmed the presence of semen and injuries consistent with sexual assault. The family moved to another part of town, and a year later, DNA results matched Cosme. His trial began in October 2000, and in December that year, he was sentenced to nine years in prison. He appealed, but the appeal was overruled.
The Fatal Encounter
Five years later, in June 2005, García was waiting for a bus when Cosme, who had been granted temporary release, approached her and said: "Good morning, ma’am. How is your daughter?" Fearing he might one day carry out his threat to murder her daughter, García ran to a petrol station, but they had no jerry can large enough. She returned home to retrieve a one-and-a-half-litre bottle and a box of matches.
After filling the bottle with petrol at the same station, she went to the bar where Cosme was having breakfast. She said: "Do you remember me? So you won't forget me!" She poured the petrol and lit it. Cosme "began to burn like a torch, from head to toe," suffering burns over 60% of his body and dying 10 days later.
Trial and Sentencing
García was admitted to the psychiatric ward of the Fontcalent penitentiary hospital. At her trial in 2009, she said: "I didn’t want to kill him; I wanted to scare him so that he would leave and never come near my family again." Verónica told the media: "If his [Cosme’s] family had acknowledged that he raped me and had let us live in peace, what is happening now would never have occurred. But you cannot damage a person to such an extent. My mother has been undergoing psychiatric treatment since the very day I was raped, and she still is [...] Things would have been different if there had been a restraining order."
García was sentenced to nine and a half years in prison, subjected to a restraining order, and ordered to pay compensation to Cosme's family. In 2010, the sentence was reduced to 5.5 years. In November 2017, she was allowed to serve the rest of the sentence at home, initially returning to prison at night but later placed on a tag. She was granted parole and released in August 2018.
