Suspect Denies Hitting Child

A former heroin addict accused of torturing a 14-month-old boy to death took the stand in his own defense Monday, insisting he never harmed the child.

Patricio Santillano, 34, is charged with murder, torture, child abuse causing death, and aggravated mayhem in connection with the death of Demitri Robledo on Oct. 22, 2000. The infant was left in the care of Santillano’s girlfriend while the boy’s mother served time on drug charges.

When the baby was left in the converted garage apartment in Oxnard shared by Santillano and Teresa Rodriguez, he was healthy except for a rash, prosecutors said. Three months later, the boy’s lips, nose and portions of his ears had been torn away by the restraints Santillano used around Demitri’s head, they said.

Rodriguez testified that Santillano beat, starved and gagged the boy, but the worst abuse came when Demitri’s crying interrupted Santillano’s efforts to inject himself with heroin.

During his brief testimony Monday, Santillano, a father of seven children who admitted using heroin since he was 17, emphatically denied ever beating the child.

“Teresa’s testimony is not true,” he said.

Santillano explained that he became addicted to heroin shortly after a gasoline fire left part of his body badly burned. He described his relationship with Rodriguez, his disapproval of her drug use and his disappointment when he learned she was pregnant with his child.

“I didn’t want to have no more children,” he said. “I was a lousy father to my others.”

Defense attorneys have maintained that it was Rodriguez who killed Demitri. They say that Santillano, upset at Rodriguez’s drug use, was not living at the apartment during the weeks preceding the boy’s death.

Santillano’s attorney, Steve Powell, has suggested that Rodriguez fabricated a story to implicate his client after learning Santillano was having an affair. On Monday, Powell called to the stand a woman who had sex with Santillano in the weeks prior to the baby’s slaying. Another acquaintance of Santillano’s testified that he visited the defendant in a studio apartment that was not the one where Demitri’s abuse took place.

Santillano’s mother-in-law from a marriage that ended in 1997 testified that Santillano was not an ideal father to her granddaughter, but he was never physically abusive.

Santillano is expected to continue his testimony today.