A Tolima judge Thursday sentenced 'the Monster of Mariquita' to 15 years in prison for the 30-year-long sexual abuse of his daughter with who he had eight children.
Arcedio Alvarez, who has been dubbed 'the Monster of Mariquita' for abusing his daughter Alba Nidia, getting her pregnant 15 times, and fathering the eight children she had with him, had been found guilty of the sexual abuse a few weeks ago already.
Alvarez initially denied being Alba and her children's father, but DNA testing demonstrated his paternity. The genetic tests were used by the judge as evidence to sentence 'the Monster of Mariquia'.
"I love him. I love him as my father. I never saw him as a man, never. He is my father," Alba Nidia said about her father and abuser.
Neighbor peasants said that Arcedio moved to La Cabaña hamlet about 20 years ago. He brought four of his children with him, one of them was Alba Nidia.
"We usually saw her pregnant. We told her that having children and sexual relations with her father was not good, but she remained silent" one of her neighbor said.
Arcedio is 60 years old, so he is legally entitled to request release within five years.
The first Commission of the Senate voted Thursday in favor of a referendum bill to ammend the Colombian Constitution on the sexual predators' prison sentences. The referendum promoters seek the possibility for a judge to impose a life sentence for child abusers.
