Alleged killers of Australian surfers and American friend go on trial in Mexico

Bereaved mother Debra Robinson in court stares at three men accused of murdering Jake and Callum Robinson and Jack Carter Rhoad in 2024

The suspected murderers of two Australian surfers and an American at a Mexican surfing hotspot have gone on trial, two years after the killings in a suspected robbery.

Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33 respectively, and their 30-year-old American friend Jack Carter Rhoad were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state.

They had been camping in a remote beachside area when they were allegedly attacked in April 2024.

Their bodies were found dumped in a cliff-top shaft several days after they went missing. They had gunshot wounds to their heads. Three men are on trial over their killings.

The Robinsons’ parents travelled to the port city of Ensenada for the start of the proceedings on Monday. Their mother, Debra Robinson, stared at the accused before bursting into tears in the courtroom.

“It’s about representing our sons, being here for them. I know they want us to be here,” her partner, Martin Robinson, had earlier told reporters. “We want to find out what happened. We want to find out why.”

Authorities allege the men were murdered during an attempt to steal their pickup truck, which was found burned near their bodies.

Three witnesses appeared before the court on Monday, including the stepson of one of the defendants, who described his stepfather as violent.

Testifying from an adjoining room with his face concealed, he said he accompanied the accused to the crime scene, waiting nearby when the “commotion” began. “I heard a lot of noise,” he said, explaining that he had run away but rejoined the group after they called him.

He said they warned him that “the same thing that happened to the gringos would happen to him” if he said anything.

The crime sparked outrage and grief in Australia and the US, where the surfers’ friends and families galvanized a major search on social media for their bodies.

Callum Robinson played professional lacrosse in the US. His brother Jake was pursuing a career in medicine. Rhoad was killed a few months before he was set to marry.

Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, plagued by organised crime and drug trafficking, although cartel activity does not usually affect tourists.

Other foreign visitors have, however, been targeted in criminal attacks on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

Two Australian surfers, Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman, were murdered in 2015 while travelling through the north-western state of Sinaloa. Their bodies were later burned.