Deal offered for confession, attacker claims
Mexican charged with attempted murder for hotel beating of Calgary woman
The Mexican man charged with attempted murder in the beating of a Calgary woman in a posh Mazatlan resort says he was promised a more lenient prison sentence if he confessed to the high-profile attack.
In an interview from his prison cell about 10 kilometres from Mazatlan, Jose Ramon Acosta Quintero stood by his earlier public confession that he beat Sheila Nabb, but said the charge of attempted murder was too severe because he “did not intend on killing anyone.”
“They said if I confessed, I’d have to serve less time, fewer years,” Quintero said. “They said I could get out on bail, and now there are people saying I could get up to 14 years for this.”
He did not provide the identity of the person who allegedly made the promise.
Quintero was officially charged in a Mexican court Monday with attempted murder in the beating of Nabb inside a hotel elevator.
He now has three days to present the judge with evidence in his own favour, with the possibility of extending the period to six days.
In an interview Monday, Quintero said he doesn’t have any money and hasn’t hired a lawyer. He said he doesn’t know if his family is aware of where he is being held. The interview was conducted in Spanish and translated into English.
Quintero’s claims raise new questions about the probe, conducted by Mexican state police under the glare of international scrutiny.
Authorities initially told Mexican media they found traces of blood in the hallway of Nabb’s room and they believed that’s where the attack took place. They later said a Canadian man with bruised knuckles who could have been a guest at the resort was a prime suspect.
Nabb was expected to spend several weeks recovering in a Mazatlan hospital, but in a hastily arranged flight early Friday, she was flown via air ambulance to a Calgary hospital.
The next day, the accused was brought before local and foreign media, flanked by heavily armed guards, and confessed to beating Nabb so badly inside the elevator of the Hotel Riu Emerald Bay that many of the bones in the 37-year-old office manager’s face were broken.
Quintero, also known by the nickname El Ray, told reporters Saturday he was drunk and high on cocaine the night Nabb was attacked. He said he spent the evening bar-hopping with a Canadian friend and they later went to the Hotel Riu, which had a 24-hour bar that gave free drinks to guests.
When Nabb got on the elevator at the sixth floor, Quintero said, she was nude. The two began speak- ing. When Nabb became agitated, Quintero said he hit her several times with his fist before fleeing the hotel.
In the interview Monday, Quintero was asked why his hands showed no signs of having punched someone with enough force to break bones.
He asked the interviewer to speak more quietly then responded, “Well, I don’t have anything,” showing his hands. Asked if he believed he was being made a scapegoat, and whether he had been beaten or tortured, he responded to each query with: “I cannot say anything.”