Husband sentenced for murder of transgender wife
A husband has been found guilty of murdering his trans wife after he caught her having sex with another man at their London home.
Joaquin Gomez-Hernandez was sentenced to at least 14 and a half years imprisonment at the Old Bailey on Tuesday (October 20) for the death of 33-year-old Vanessa Santillan.
The court heard that Gomez-Hernandez had walked in on his wife – who worked as an escort – while she was with a client at their flat.
He grew emotional, bursting into tears and storming out.
Later that evening, after returning to the property, he preceded to strangle and beat his wife to death.
“You and you alone know what happened that afternoon that caused you to lose your temper and attack her,” said Judge Richard Marks QC as he passed sentence.
“I am satisfied that jealousy on your part must have played a role in all of this. You left her naked from the waist down and you made no attempt to summon any medical or other assistance.
“You then visited two prostitutes to whom you paid £400 for sex, all at a time when you knew what you had just done to your wife,” he added.
“This was on any view a sustained attack and your subsequent conduct that afternoon was callous in the extreme.”
Miami-born trans woman Vanessa Santillan was found dead by police in a London flat in March – with a post-mortem showing that trauma to the head and neck was the cause of the death.
The pair met in their native Mexico in March 2013 and moved to London in January this year.
