Families of Callum and Jake Robinson travel to Ensenada as three men face charges of executing the Perth siblings and their American friend during a 2024 surf trip.
The parents of two Australian brothers shot dead on a surfing holiday in Mexico have travelled thousands of kilometres to sit metres from the men accused of killing their sons, as a long-awaited trial opened in the Pacific port city of Ensenada.
Debra and Martin Robinson arrived at court on Monday as Jesús Gerardo, known as “El Kekas,” Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús appeared in orange prison jumpsuits. The three men are charged with aggravated homicide, violent robbery and auto theft over the April 2024 killings of Callum Robinson, 33, his brother Jake, 30, and their American friend Jack Carter Rhoad, 30. Prosecutors are seeking sentences of more than 200 years for each defendant.
“It’s about representing our sons, being here for them. I know they want us to be here,” Martin Robinson told reporters. “We want to find out what happened. We want to find out why.” His wife Debra stared at the accused before breaking down in tears inside the courtroom.
Three Surfers Killed in Mexico Robbery Gone Wrong:
The three friends had driven south from Ensenada to a remote stretch of coastline near Punta San José, a popular but isolated surf spot with limited phone signal. They set up camp on 27 April 2024. The next day they were reported missing after failing to arrive at an Airbnb booking.
Days later their bodies were recovered from the bottom of a clifftop well, each with a gunshot wound to the head. Their pickup truck was found burned nearby. Prosecutors say the attackers wanted the vehicle and its tyres. A young woman who later admitted instigating the robbery had allegedly told her boyfriend the tourists had “good phones and good tires.” That woman, Ary Gisell Silva, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2025 after pleading guilty to her role.
The prosecution describes a bungled robbery that turned into an execution-style killing. The defence has argued there is insufficient evidence to support that account. The judge-only trial is expected to last about four weeks and hear from dozens of witnesses. On the opening day the accused were moved to a smaller courtroom amid reports that some witnesses had been intimidated.
Mexico Trial Reopens Tragic Surfers’ Deaths:
Callum Robinson, a professional lacrosse player who lived in San Diego, and Jake, who was pursuing medicine, had followed their love of surfing from Perth to Baja California. Rhoad was due to marry later that year. Their deaths shocked Australia and the United States and highlighted the risks facing tourists in parts of Mexico where organised crime and opportunistic violence overlap.
Baja California has long struggled with cartel-related insecurity. Court documents earlier linked two of the accused to groups affiliated with the Sinaloa cartel, prompting their transfer to a maximum-security prison. Prosecutors have maintained the killings were a robbery gone wrong rather than a targeted cartel hit, but the distinction offers little comfort to families who lost three young men on what should have been a celebratory trip.
The Robinsons have established a foundation in their sons’ names. They have said they want the trial to give them a voice the brothers can no longer use themselves. Debra is expected to address the court, followed by Martin.
Two years after the bodies were pulled from the well, the opening of the trial represents a rare moment of public reckoning in a country where thousands of disappearances go unresolved. Mexican authorities solved this case far more quickly than most, in part because of international attention and the identification of the victims by their families.
Yet the proceedings also expose the limits of that attention. Foreign tourists can generate headlines and diplomatic pressure; the everyday victims of Mexico’s violence rarely do. The families of Callum, Jake and Carter now sit in a small courtroom in Ensenada hoping the coming weeks will finally explain how three friends camping by the ocean ended up executed and dumped out of sight.