SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced on Monday, November 20 that Rabira Pollano, 27, of San Francisco was found guilty after a trial by jury. He was convicted of kidnapping (PC 207); domestic violence (PC 273.5); criminal threats (PC 422); assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury (PC 245(a)(4); two counts of witness dissuasion (PC 136.1); and two counts of simple assault (PC 240). Pollano kidnapped his wife at gunpoint, threatened to kill her, and committed several assaults on her before she was able to escape.
According to testimony and other evidence presented at trial, the defendant threatened to kill her and dump his wife’s body in the bay at an East Bay waterfront park in Albany, CA. When they arrived at the park, she was able to escape the car and run towards another car for help. Two young women from Berkeley stopped to help and she jumped in the back of their car.
Pollano jumped into the car and attempted to pull her out. The young women tried to call 911, Pollano took away their cellphones, took his wife out of the car and dragged her on the street back to their car where he continued to assault her. She testified at trial that after the beating she perceived what she believed to be remorse from her husband. Playing into that remorse, she attempted to placate him by showing affection and with promises of not contacting the authorities.
She was able to convince the defendant to take her back home. At home she took further steps to placate Pollano by calling the police and lying about what occurred at the park. She got her husband to leave her home and she woke her father who took her to the hospital. She was beaten so badly she suffered head trauma and scrapes and contusions all over her body. Doctors had to remove one of her earrings that had been forced down her ear canal as a result of the beating.
The case was investigated by the San Francisco Police Department’s Special Victims Unit.
“I would also like to thank the jury for their work in this case,” said Assistant District Attorney Rick Hullinger. “The survivor in this case showed remarkable courage, intelligence, and resourcefulness to escape her abuser and survive a terrifying ordeal. She showed further courage in coming to trial to confront her abuser. I believe her actions were heroic and I feel privileged to have met her.”
Pollano is currently in custody pending sentencing. He faces up to 29 years in state prison. There is a hearing to set the sentencing hearing on January 16, 2024.
