Witness Tells of Child’s Torture

Sometimes Patrick Santillano would hit 14-month-old Demitri Robledo because the youngster was crying. And sometimes the violence would erupt for no reason at all, a former girlfriend testified Monday in Santillano’s murder and child-abuse trial.

Teresa Rodriguez told Ventura County Superior Court jurors that Santillano would lift the baby by his ankles and smack him on the legs while the youngster dangled upside down. Other times he would use a belt to do the spanking, or slap the child in the face, often while taunting the toddler with names like “sissy” or “crybaby.”

“I guess the baby just irked him. I don’t know why,” said Rodriguez, who cared for the child while his mother, a friend, served time on drug charges. “I’d tell Pat to leave him alone,” Rodriguez said. “Sometimes he would, sometimes he wouldn’t.”

Santillano, 33, is charged with murder, torture, child abuse causing death, and mayhem in connection with the Oct. 22, 2000, death.

Rodriguez has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and mayhem, and is awaiting sentencing. Santillano’s attorney contends it was Rodriguez, not his client, who was responsible for the child’s death.

As part of her plea, Rodriguez agreed to testify against Santillano, the father of her two children and her live-in boyfriend from late 1997 until the time of Demitri’s death.

Shackled at the ankles and wearing jail blues, Rodriguez spent much of the morning telling jurors about her own upbringing.

Born to drug-abusing parents, Rodriguez said she was molested as a girl, and by 13 was using drugs herself. She had boyfriends who beat her and one who forced her into prostitution to earn money for drugs.

Rodriguez said she was 17 and a full-blown heroin addict when she started dating Santillano. He treated her well at first, Rodriguez said, urging her to stay clean, go back to school and make something of her life.

She said she tried to follow his advice, but failed time after time.

Under questioning by Deputy Dist. Atty. Cheryl Temple, Rodriguez painted Santillano as an increasingly controlling and abusive drug dealer. She said he hit her at times, threatened to break her legs with a baseball bat, and once threatened to dangle her by the ankles off Mugu Rock.

“I don’t know how to describe it,” she said. “He’s just really ugly when he’s mad.”

In a voice barely above a whisper, Rodriguez then told jurors how she came to care about Demitri, offering to baptize the baby and be his godmother.

“Why did you want to be his godmother?” Temple asked.

“Because I wanted to help [Demitri’s mother] take care of him,” Rodriguez answered. “I loved him.”