POMONA — One man entered a guilty plea for his role in an El Monte carjacking in which female cab driver’s throat was cut, while another suspect in the case began trial on charges of carjacking and attempted murder, officials said Thursday.
David Siguenza, 20, of El Monte entered a guilty plea Tuesday to a count of carjacking, prosecutor Duke Chau said. He is due to be sentenced Sept. 14.
Carlos Ramirez, 26, of El Monte has pleaded not guilty to charges of carjacking and attempted murder.
El Monte police Detective Ralph Batres said the attack left the victim, 28-year-old Clara Reyes of Rosemead “traumatized” and scarred.
“She had been on the job one month,” Batres said.
Both men allegedly took part in the Nov. 14, 2008, incident, in which police said Ramirez grabbed the woman from behind and slit her throat in order to steal her taxi.
In Pomona Superior Court Thursday, Siguenza testified through a Spanish interpreter that he was drinking with Ramirez when Ramirez called for a taxi.
After driving a short distance in the taxi from the El Monte home the men shared in the 11700 block of Emery Street, Ramirez attacked, he said.
“He was just holding her by the neck,” Siguenza said. “I started yelling two or three times to leave her alone.”
“When she noticed I wanted to help her, she said, ‘Please help,'” Siguenza testified.
Siguenza said he tried to grab Ramirez’s hand just before Reyes was able to get out of the taxi.
“When she stepped out of the taxi, I noticed she had blood,” he said, adding that Ramirez was holding a box cutter in his hand.
Siguenza admitted taking $10 from the wounded woman’s purse after they fled the scene of the attack at Tyler Avenue and Kauffman Street, but said Ramirez had not told him of any plans to harm the taxi driver or steal the car. The men planned only to go to a friend’s house to borrow money, he said, though they had no money to pay for the taxi ride Ramirez called for.
A transcript of an El Monte police interview of Siguenza the day after the incident tells part of the tale.
According to the transcript, Siguenza told investigators he was planning to participate in the killing of the driver and theft of the taxi, however he changed his mind when he saw the driver was a woman and unsuccessfully tried to convince Ramirez to cancel the plan.
Siguenza and Ramirez are both illegal immigrants who worked together at a La Puente car wash at the time of the carjacking and stabbing, Batres said.
The trial will continue Friday.