Neiva's Superior Court upheld a 12-year prison sentence against Jhonatan Felipe Zambrano Córdoba for abusive carnal access with a 12-year-old minor. The events took place in 2019 in Neiva's Las Palmas neighborhood. The ruling confirmed the first-instance decision from December 2025.
Neiva's Superior Court upheld the 12-year prison sentence against Jhonatan Felipe Zambrano Córdoba for the crime of abusive carnal access with a minor under 14 years old. The first-instance sentence was issued by Neiva's Third Criminal Circuit Court on December 9, 2025.
The events occurred on October 29 or 30, 2019, in the Las Palmas neighborhood in eastern Neiva. Prosecutors stated that Zambrano Córdoba, who had a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with the 12-year-old victim, took her without her parents' authorization, hiding her for three days in relatives' homes. The minor did not return home at midday as usual and went with him to the Galindo and Las Palmas neighborhoods.
The victim clearly described the abuse: “Jhonatan Felipe Zambrano Córdoba stripped her of her clothes and penetrated her vaginally,” according to the first-instance judge. Medical findings, such as bruising on the breasts, and testimonies from the mother, stepfather, and biological father corroborated her account. The accused knew the minor's age, as she had told him from the start of the relationship.
Magistrate Juana Alexandra Tobar Manzano stressed that the minor's consent lacks legal validity. “For a passive subject under 14 years old, consent lacks legal efficacy,” she stated. The ruling rejected the defense claim that the conviction relied solely on the victim's testimony, highlighting corroboration by other evidence.
