Her rapists were sentenced to life in prison. Now they’re free, and she’s in hiding.
Ella Carrión had one job in her life: to be a perfect wife.
As a young woman, she lived in a small town in north Mexico, working alongside her young husband and their teenage daughter. Though her husband, Miguel Angel Juárez de Carrión, was a wealthy landowner, he was still a young man with dreams for his family.
“We were poor, but we were happy,” Ella said. “We had more food on the table than I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
Ella’s life was normal. She had a son who was four years old and a daughter who was two.
“I was a good mother, and I did what the judge said was right,” Ella said.
That was until she was arrested and charged with raping a woman who said she was 19. That woman was no legal witness, since she was forced into a sexual relationship.
“She was 15 years old,” Eloisa Juárez, a public defender in the state of Mexico, told NBC News. “There is no age for consent. She was 15 years old.”
Ella and her daughter are in hiding, and have sought legal help and a safe home to take refuge in. The mother and daughter have been turned down multiple times by shelters in Mexico.
On Tuesday, the day Miguel Angel Juárez de Carrión was expected to be released from prison, the couple was finally reunited.
Tears streamed down Miguel Angel Juárez de Carrión’s face.
After a decade of abuse, he had finally been found guilty, sentenced to life behind bars.
But the time he spent behind bars is nothing compared to what he’s been through since.
“I was raped by five men. I’m very lucky to have my mom with me right now,” he said.
For some reason, Miguel Angel Juárez de Carrión decided to wear a pair of handcuffs attached to his ankle. It was a gesture of defiance as he left prison with his life in hand, and he has used the handcuffs to symbolize his strength.
A woman accused of being his lover was not
