Santa Ana man charged with beating and raping his estranged wife and stealing her car

Luis Javier Cervantes, a 26-year-old man, raped his estranged wife in a hallway outside a room where their two young sons slept in Santa Ana, punched her in the head, cut her with a blade, and then fled in her car, according to an OCDA prosecutor as reported by the O.C. Register.

Cervantes’ defense attorney, Christian De Olivas, admits that his client is guilty of hitting his wife and taking her car, but he is alleging that his client did not rape the victim.

Cervantes is facing several felony charges including spousal rape, sexual penetration, assault with intent to commit a sex offense, assault with a deadly weapon and car theft.

Cervantes met his wife while they were both attending Santa Ana High School and they began dating when they were about 16. They have since two sons that were born in 2007 and in 2009, according to the OCDA. They eventually dropped out of high school and lived with relatives.

The OCDA prosecutor alleged that Cervantes had major jealousy issues and he also struggled with drug and alcohol dependency.

Despite Cervantes’ shortcomings the two were married in 2011 and sure enough by the very next year the police were called to their home when Cervantes engaged his wife in a physical struggle.

Cervantes apparently was high on drugs and raging with jealousy when he punched his poor wife in the face and then choked her before slamming her across the back with an easel. However the case against him was dropped when his wife refused to cooperate with the authorities.

By mid-April of 2015 Cervantes’ beleaguered wife had kicked him out of the tiny 1-bedroom apartment that they were sharing with her mother after the two had yet another argument involving allegations by Cervantes that his wife was cheating on him.

On April 29, 2015, the wife drove her mom to her job at midnight and then came back home to put her two sons to bed. However Cervantes had gotten into their apartment and was waiting for her in the bathroom next to the room where they slept.

Cervantes had a knife in his hand and he showed his wife the butt of a gun. He was high and smelled and you can just imagine how his wife felt when he stepped out of the bathroom.

Then Cervantes allegedly told his estranged wife to take off all of her clothes and so of course she asked him if he was going to rape her. And that is exactly what he reportedly did.

Cervantes then told her that he wanted to win her back and that he wanted to kill himself, according to the OCDA. Then he demanded to look at her cell phone but she kept putting him off while she tried to  “talk him off the ledge.”

The estranged wife tried to call 911 during the incident but was unable to complete the call. At some point Cervantes punched her in the head and cut her with the blade in his hand. The cut released a lot of blood and it quickly pooled around her on the floor.

Cervantes realized how badly he had hurt his wife so he called his brother and took off – but not before he got her car keys and then made off with her car.

The victim finally was able to call 911 and the police arrested Cervantes the next day. The wife had surgery which included 11 staples to close her head wound.

Cervantes’ defense attorney told the jurors that “This is a case about passion.” he then repeated his allegation that the rape and digital penetration never happened although he did admit that Cervantes is a jealous man and he began “seeing things that were not there.”

De Olivas also claimed that Cervantes cut his wife with a box cutter that was in his hand, not a knife. Then he alleged that the victim did not die because the weapon was a box cutter not a knife. Then De Olivas claimed that Cervantes went to his wife’s apartment to “reconcile” with her and to “see the children.”

It is true apparently that the victim did not mention rape when she called 911. She was more worried about her car than rape, according to De Olivas. Of course she was! She was still thinking about picking her mom up from work!