A young woman has gone on trial for murder for killing the man who raped and beat her after she offered him a place to stay for the night when he was stuck on the street.

Roxana Ruiz Santiago, 21, has been in preventive custody for over 90 days after she killed her attacker in the city of Nezahualcoyotl in the Mexican state of Mexico in May.

She is accused of homicide after she was raped inside her home by an unnamed young man, who beat her when she tried to resist.

She hit the man in the face, giving him a nosebleed, and while he was distracted, she grabbed a t-shirt, which she wrapped around his neck and with which she strangled him to death.

She put his dead body in a bag, which she dumped on a street corner. However, she was caught in the act by a neighbour, who called the police, and she was arrested after confessing to the crime.

Roxana, who is a single mother to a four-year-old son and who hails from the city of Pinotepa Nacional in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, had moved to Nezahualcoyotl to earn a living by selling potatoes on the street.

According to reports, the young man who raped her had approached her on the street as she was returning home one night.

He reportedly asked if he could stay at her place, as he could not reach his own home, which was far away, and she said yes.

She woke up during the night to find him raping her, and the fatal struggle then ensued.

Feminist groups have condemned the detention of the woman, who is from a humble background and who cannot afford her own lawyer, instead relying on a public defender.

Her relatives live in Oaxaca and have not been able to afford the roughly nine-hour road trip to Mexico State to visit her at Nezahualcoyotl’s Neza-Bordo prison, where she is being held.

Activist groups, such as ‘Nos queremos vivas Neza’, have criticised the fact that the case is not being considered from a gendered perspective.

The trial is due to take place this afternoon (Monday, 2nd August).