A woman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the murders of three tourists during a carjacking in Mexico last year. Ari Gisell, 23, pleaded guilty to instigating the violent assault on Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad, who were on a surfing trip in the northern Mexican state of Baja California in April 2024 when they disappeared. Their bodies were later found with gunshot wounds to the head at the bottom of a deep well.

Ari Gisell had expressed interest in the tyres on the surfers' car and told her then-boyfriend Jesús Gerardo to 'bring me a good phone and good tyres for my pickup truck', the court heard. Only the first and middle names of the defendants were revealed, as surnames are not published in line with Mexican court reporting rules.

Jesús Gerardo and two others, Irineo Francisco and Ángel Jesús, followed the vehicle to the campsite where the foreigners were staying, then robbed them before shooting them dead. The cases against these three men are still before the courts.

According to Mexican newspaper La Silla Rota, Jesús Gerardo and Irineo Francisco have associations with the powerful drug cartel Sinaloa, which was once led by notorious drug lord Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Both are being held in a maximum-security prison in Baja California. Prosecutors do not suspect any links between the murders and organised crime.

The victims' families expressed their profound grief at the hearing, with Debra Robinson, the mother of the brothers, stating, 'We dreamed of seeing them grow older.' Callum Robinson, a 33-year-old member of Australia's national lacrosse team, and his younger brother Jake, 30, were on a trip to visit him. Jake was set to begin a new job as a doctor upon his return. Their friend Rhoad, a 30-year-old tech worker, was just months away from marrying his fiancée.

Ari Gisell delivered a tearful apology in court, saying, 'I am focused on being a better person, and I am very sorry for your losses.'}