The 29-year-old man accused of murdering young Brazilian woman Bruna Fonseca who died in a flat in Cork city centre on New Year’s Day has been remanded in custody until February 13.

Miller Pacheco is charged with the murder of Bruna Fonseca (28) at Liberty Street, Cork on January 1 contrary to Common Law and he appeared in Cork District Court today (January 30) by video link from prison.

His solicitor Aoife Buttimer appeared at Courtroom 1 at the courthouse on Anglesea Street, Cork, and a Portuguese interpreter was present to translate the brief hearing for the defendant.

Sergeant Gearóid Davis applied for a two-week adjournment to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

When the interpreter informed the accused that the case had been put back until February 13 for him to appear again by video link he replied briefly in Portuguese to the interpreter.

Detective Garda Padraig Harrington of the Bridewell Garda Station gave evidence last week of arresting the defendant, charging and cautioning him. Pacheco made no reply to the charge.

At the first court appearance there was a defence application that the accused would receive all appropriate medical attention while on remand in Cork Prison.

The late Ms Fonseca was a native of Formiga in Minas Gerais province, northwest of Rio de Janiero, and was a qualified librarian, who had come to Cork in September and had been working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital where management expressed their sympathies on Ms Fonseca’s death to her family and friends, describing her as “an esteemed colleague” and a “hard and diligent worker”.

The late Ms Fonseca’s remains were taken to her home city of Formiga in the state of Minas Gerais, northwest of Rio de Janiero, and her funeral took place there on January 16 before mourners led by her father, Tadeu José Fonseca, and mother, Marina dos Reis Palhares Fonseca.