Horrors Pile Up in Woman’s Testimony

Suspected Oxnard child killer Patrick Santillano brutally slapped, starved, gagged and tormented a 14-month-old boy entrusted to the care of his live-in girlfriend and forbade her from taking the injured toddler to a doctor, the woman testified Tuesday.

Speaking in a voice muffled by tears, Teresa Rodriguez told jurors her former boyfriend inflicted horror upon horror on Demitri Robledo, breaking his elbow, binding his wrists and ankles for hours at a time and denying the child food or affection.

Rodriguez said Santillano, a drug dealer and addict, gagged the boy to silence him while shooting heroin and forbade medical care even as the child exhibited bloody wounds all over his body.

At one point during her testimony, Rodriguez’s recollection appeared to move Santillano to tears and he rested his head on the counsel table.

“Feel bad now, huh?” Rodriguez sneered from the witness stand.

“You’re a monster,” Santillano lashed back.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger quickly called a recess and ordered Santillano not to direct any more comments to the witness stand. The defendant apologized for his outburst. “But I’m only human,” he added. “I’ve never been in this situation before.”

Santillano, 33, is charged with murder, torture, child abuse causing death, and aggravated mayhem in connection with the Oct. 22, 2000, death of Demitri, who was left in Rodriguez’s care while his mother, a longtime friend of Rodriguez’s, served time on drug charges.

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

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.

On the stand for a second day Tuesday, Rodriguez testified that Santillano called Demitri names and slapped him two or three times a day. She could not explain the reason for the abuse, but told jurors that Santillano disapproved of boys being coddled or shown affection.