The secretary general of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia (CEC) said that child rapists, such as Luis Alfredo Garavito, alias “La Bestia” (The Beast), should receive treatment in a psychiatric ward and not receive life imprisonment.
El Espectador reported that Monsignor Juan Vincente Cordoba stated that he believes that people who rape and murder children have a psychological condition that should be addressed through treatment.
“It is necessary to differentiate that there are rapists that have a psychiatric problem, which is different. They are sick people and every sick person should be treated as such, every patient is given treatment to the extent that you have to deal with their illness…”
When asked to clarify if his comments extend to Garavito, the most notorious serial child rapist in Colombia, Cordoba said “[Garavito] has a disease, he is a person of a violation so massive, so many people, hundreds of murders of children, of course it has to be a psychiatric illness and he must be understood as a person who needs psychiatric care.”
Garavito is one of the worst serial rapists and murderers of all time, with 138 confirmed murders and possibly over 160 more. He is thought to have tortured, raped, and killed nearly 300 young boys from 1992 to 1999.
Cordoba’s comments come in light of Congress debating an initiative to sentence child rapists to life in prison.