Juan Carlos Aguilar was a martial-arts instructor in Bilbao who had spent years presenting himself as a Shaolin monk. In the spring of 2013 two women died in the city within about a week of each other. Jenny Sofía Rebollo, a 40-year-old Colombian mother, died on May 25. Maureen Ada Otuya, a 29-year-old Nigerian woman, was attacked on June 2 and died in a Bilbao hospital on June 5. Aguilar was arrested on the day of the second attack. At his trial in April 2015 he told the court he admitted everything.
A jury of nine at the Audiencia Provincial de Bizkaia found him guilty of both murders on April 24, 2015. The presiding judge, Manuel Ayo, sentenced him six days later to 19 years for each killing, 38 years in total.
Aguilar was about 47 when he was arrested in June 2013. He was born in 1966, according to EFE, and came from Bilbao. He ran a martial-arts gym in the center of the city. In 1997 he was presented in the Spanish press as the first Western Shaolin monk, and as a former world champion in kung-fu forms and weapons. Spanish media later repeated a longer list of titles, including several world and national championships. Martial-arts officials, and the Shaolin Temple of Spain, a Spanish organization, disputed these claims after his arrest. The temple said he held no official rank and had no authorization from the temple in Henan, China.
Police told the press in 2013 that he had a police record but that it had nothing to do with violence of this kind. Reports at the time also said he had been treated for a brain tumor for about two years, and that it was unclear whether this could have affected his mental faculties. Police were trying to establish whether he had been receiving psychological treatment. Former students quoted by The Local described a man who struck them as intimidating and absorbed in Zen culture; one said he had called himself a representative of Buddha on earth. At sentencing the court recorded that he had no prior criminal convictions.
Jenny Sofía Rebollo was 40 and came from Montería, in northern Colombia, where her family lived in the La Granja neighborhood. The newspaper El Universal reported that about 13 years before her death she had left for Europe after a separation and the death of one of her sons, in search of a better life. In Spain she had a new relationship and two children. Her eldest son, then six, lived with her mother in Córdoba, Colombia; the other child lived with her in Spain.
Her family in Colombia learned of her death on the morning of June 5, 2013. Her mother asked the Colombian government for help in bringing her home, because the family could not afford the trip to Bilbao or the cost of repatriation. Neighbors gathered at the family home in Montería, and Colombians living in Bilbao were reported to be organizing a protest.
The court and prosecutors place her death on May 25, 2013. Her name is spelled in several ways in the press: Rebollo, Revollo, and Yenny or Jenny. The court's own press office and the sentencing reports use Jenny Sofía Rebollo.
Maureen Ada Otuya was a 29-year-old Nigerian woman. She was often called Ada in Spanish reports; the prosecutor's 2014 filing gave her name as Maurren Ada. She was attacked on Sunday, June 2, 2013, and died at the Hospital de Basurto at 12:35 on Wednesday, June 5, 2013.
Her father and her brother were awarded compensation at sentencing. The prosecutor's 2014 filing had listed her mother as a party.
The Ertzaintza arrested Aguilar on June 2, 2013, after a witness alerted them. According to EFE, on Monday, June 3, he told officers that he believed he had killed another woman a few days earlier, though he described himself as confused about it. Police said they were investigating whether he was involved in other crimes, and the case was placed under court secrecy. Investigators identified the second woman as Rebollo.
On Wednesday, June 5, the day Otuya died, a judge ordered him held in provisional prison without bail on charges of murdering both women, and he gave a statement at the courthouse. The same day the Basque chief prosecutor, Juan Calparsoro, told the press that any sentence would clearly exceed 30 years. He added that a plea of mental disorder would count as a mitigating factor but would still likely mean more than 20 years in prison.
Provisional prison without bail was first set for two years. The judge extended it by a further two years, citing the gravity of the offenses and the risk of flight, because the trial had not taken place.
In May 2014 prosecutor José María Morales asked for a jury trial and for 20 years for each killing, 40 years in total, classifying both as murder with treachery. The private accusations, acting for the two families, and the popular accusation, exercised by Clara Campoamor, went further. For Otuya's death they asked for 25 years and argued for the aggravating circumstance of cruelty (ensañamiento). Rebollo's family asked for 20 years, as the prosecutor did. The compensation sought was itemized for both families, including two sons and the mother of Rebollo and the family of Otuya. The trial, expected for the end of 2014, was held in April 2015.
The oral trial ran from April 17 to April 22, 2015, at the Palacio de Justicia in Bilbao, before the Audiencia Provincial de Bizkaia with a jury. It had been scheduled to run until May 5 but was expected to be shortened. Aguilar, then 49, followed the hearing with his eyes at times closed and at times fixed on the distance. He was defended by a court-appointed lawyer.
Asked by the prosecutor whether he accepted the charges, he answered, "Yes, I admit all of it." He confirmed a letter he had recently sent to the court, and he said he had killed both women. He offered to compensate the families from the sale of his assets. He said that negotiations over this had taken place and that the other parties had not accepted. His bank accounts were frozen, he said, and could not be reached from prison.
Rebollo's brother told reporters that Aguilar's manner in court was arrogant. He said that Aguilar showed no regret and that the confession was a strategy to avoid questions and reduce his sentence.
The jury began deliberating at noon on April 23 and returned its verdict on the afternoon of April 24, 2015. It found Aguilar guilty of two murders committed with treachery, meaning the women had no chance to defend themselves. The vote on guilt was unanimous among the nine jurors, five men and four women. On the question of cruelty in the death of Otuya the jury voted 7 to 2 against. Had cruelty been found, the longest time he could serve would have been 30 years; without it, 20. The jury also stated unanimously that it opposed any penal benefits during his sentence and any pardon.
Judge Ayo's sentence was made public on April 30, 2015. He imposed 19 years for each murder, 38 years in all, with absolute disqualification and payment of court costs. That was two years less per count than the prosecutor had requested. The reduction reflected Aguilar's admission of the facts and his lack of a criminal record. The judge declined to reduce it further, calling the crimes of extraordinary gravity and noting that Aguilar had shown no sign of remorse. The court confirmed treachery and did not apply cruelty.
The court awarded compensation totaling 397,000 euros to the families: 120,000 euros each to Rebollo's son and father and 12,000 euros to her mother, and 120,000 euros to Otuya's father and 25,000 euros to her brother. One account of the ruling gave 100,000 euros for the son; the figures above add up to the 397,000-euro total the court announced.
Under Spanish law the maximum time Aguilar can serve is 25 years. The sentence could be appealed within 10 days of notification to the civil and criminal chamber of the Tribunal Superior de Justicia del País Vasco. No appeal ruling by that court or by the Tribunal Supremo has been made public.
Proven by the jury verdict, supported by Aguilar's own admission at trial: the murders, with treachery, of Jenny Sofía Rebollo and Maureen Ada Otuya.
Rejected by the jury and the court: cruelty (ensañamiento) in the death of Otuya, which the private accusations and the popular accusation had asked for.
Not tested in court: the mental-health question. In 2013 the press reported a brain tumor and possible psychological treatment, and the chief prosecutor spoke of a possible mental-disorder plea. The court made no finding of reduced responsibility.
Suspicion of other crimes: police said in 2013 that they were investigating whether Aguilar was involved in others. No other charge, confession or conviction was reported.
Details that vary: the spelling of Rebollo's name; the date of Otuya's death (the court press office dates the killings by the attacks, May 25 and June 2, while her death in hospital was on June 5); the total compensation to Rebollo's son; and the year of the 1997 title (several 2013 reports date his public presentation as the first Western Shaolin monk to 1997).
In April 2015 an appeal was still open to him. Nothing further about an appeal, his place of custody or a release date has been made public.
1966: Aguilar is born (year given by EFE).
1997: He is presented in the Spanish press as the first Western Shaolin monk.
May 25, 2013: Jenny Sofía Rebollo, 40, dies in Bilbao.
June 2, 2013: Maureen Ada Otuya, 29, is attacked in Bilbao; a witness alerts police and Aguilar is arrested.
June 3, 2013: He tells police he believes he killed another woman days earlier.
June 5, 2013: Otuya dies at the Hospital de Basurto; a judge orders Aguilar held in provisional prison without bail.
May 19, 2014: The prosecutor asks for a jury trial and 20 years for each killing.
April 2015: The judge extends provisional prison by two years.
April 17-22, 2015: Trial at the Audiencia Provincial de Bizkaia; Aguilar admits both killings.
April 24, 2015: The jury finds him guilty of two murders with treachery.
April 30, 2015: Sentenced to 19 years for each murder, 38 years in all.