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Conviction Spiritual healing, divination, and mediumship Traditional healing practitioners San Luis, Riobamba, Chimborazo, Ecuador · 2023

Chimborazo curandero convicted of raping a 15-year-old during a claimed healing ritual; appeal denied

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Disposition and response

Material that narrows or disputes the record

Appellate history

  • 2026-03-23

    Appeal denied; trial conviction and 29-year-4-month sentence ratified.

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

curandero, self-described traditional healer operating premises in the San Luis sector of Riobamba

Organization

No organization assigned

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The defendant used his claimed status as a traditional healer (curandero) and the pretext of a healing ritual to isolate a minor and obtain sexual access, telling her the assault was part of the cure — the same doctrinal-pretext mechanism (traditional healing/curanderismo authority) already documented in the corpus's Cuenca and Gualaceo curandero records, but arising from an entirely separate proceeding, defendant, and province.

  • Spiritual healing or treatment

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2023-12-19 · convicted at trial; conviction and sentence ratified on appeal

    Tribunal de Garantías Penales de Chimborazo (trial); Sala Penal de la Corte Provincial de Justicia de Chimborazo (appeal). Néstor D. B., a self-described curandero operating in the San Luis sector of Riobamba, was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl who had come to his premises with her family seeking a 'curación.' The offense occurred on the night of 26 April 2023: the defendant took the victim to a darkened room, told her to undress, and assaulted her, claiming this was necessary to heal her. He was sentenced to 29 years and 4 months' imprisonment. He appealed; the Chimborazo Provincial Court's Criminal Chamber denied the appeal and ratified the sentence in full (reported 23 March 2026).

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • traditional-healing setting and treatment trust
  • isolation of the victim in a darkened room framed as necessary to the cure
  • claimed ritual/therapeutic pretext for requiring the victim to disrobe

Cited record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting court verdict report Primicias, 'Tribunal condena a un curandero a 29 años de cárcel por violación en Riobamba' (2023).

Reports the trial court conviction, the 26 April 2023 offense date, the victim's age (15), the darkened-room/disrobe pretext, and the 29-year-4-month sentence.

national newspaper court reporting appellate ruling report Ecuavisa, report on the Chimborazo Provincial Court's Criminal Chamber denying the appeal and ratifying the 29-year-4-month sentence (23 March 2026).

Confirms the appellate denial and ratification of the original sentence against Néstor D. B.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis
https://www.primicias.ec/noticias/sucesos/condena-curandero-riobamba-violacion/ Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: court-verdict-report. SHA-256 2974b02a47bc5554b9459a231b0cdc23598cc84203e84c6fdf717718c38d80d1
Retrieval
2026-07-27 · Preserved
Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis
https://www.ecuavisa.com/seguridad/chimborazo-sentencia-violacion-ratificada-chunchi-interpol-detenido-estados-unidos-20260323-0088.html Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: appellate-ruling-report.
Retrieval
2026-07-27 · Retrieval failed
Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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