Man jailed for life for murder of Bruna Fonseca
Olivia Kelleher
A Brazilian man who was convicted of the murder of his ex-girlfriend in a flat in Cork has accepted the verdict of the court and apologised to the family of the deceased for taking her life.
Miller Pacheco (32) of Formiga in Minas Gerais in Brazil was jailed for life at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Friday for the murder of Bruna Fonseca.
At the conclusion of the hearing, his senior counsel, Ray Boland, said that Mr Pacheco would not be lodging an appeal in the case. He said that his client wanted to express his remorse for the “devastation” caused to the Fonseca family.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford said that Bruna (28) was an “exceptional young woman” and a “complete human being.”
She stated that Miller Pacheco had failed to give Bruna her right to move on when their relationship ended in November 2022. Bruna was in a relationship with Miller for five years in their native Brazil.
The university graduate and librarian moved to Ireland in September 2022 with her young niece. Miller arrived in this country in November 2022.
However, the pair broke up within days of his landing in Cork.
They had previously split up earlier that year for a few months.
Ms Justice Lankford noted that poignantly, Bruna had recorded a conversation with Miller in which she told him that she was not a “trophy.”
Bruna emphasised to Miller that it was her life and that no one was entitled to it other than her.
Ms Justice Lankford said that Bruna could not be “won or lost” as she had her “own hopes and dreams.”
On Thursday, the jury took just one hour and two minutes to find the accused guilty of the murder of the 28-year-old on New Year’s Day 2023 at his flat in Liberty Street in Cork.
Bruna’s older sisters, Izabel and Fernanda, her cousin Marcel and niece Maria all wore t-shirts bearing the image of their “unforgettable” loved one Bruna at the sentencing hearing.
Izabel, in her victim impact statement, said that at 4:45 am on January 1st, 2023, her family in Brazil received the most difficult phone call of their lives.
“While we were celebrating the beginning of a new year, we were left floored, speechless and joyless. We were told our baby sister was gone.
"Then came the hardest task, telling our mother that her daughter would never return home. Then waiting for the remains, the wake and the burial.
"In the early hours of January 16th, Bruna arrived. She looked serene.
"When our mother tried to touch her, she felt a coldness that should never be a part of that farewell. That scene marked our family permanently
"We fixed her hair and did her makeup with all our love, so that she would be as she always was.”
Izabel said that the investigation made it clear that Bruna was not to blame for what had occurred, with the jury rejecting the position of the accused that he had put his ex-girlfriend in a choke hold to stop her from hitting him.
She stressed that Bruna was not a number but a wonderful person with dreams, plans, laughter and a whole life ahead of her.
“She came to his country moved by the hope of building a better future. Bruna was strong. Even living in a relationship (with Miller) characterised by constant manipulation, she always tried to solve problems that were not her own.
"Among all the things taken from her was the chance to meet her youngest niece and to see her grow.”
Izabel said that whilst Bruna was not there to defend herself, her family always would be.
“Her name will be remembered with dignity, truth and love. Nothing will bring Bruna back. But it is fair to recognise the seriousness of what was done and clearly state that her life mattered.”
Marcela Fonseca, a cousin of the deceased, was living in Cork when the murder occurred. In her victim impact she said that she made a promise to Bruna’s mother that they would bring her body back for burial.
“And that is what I did. I sent her body back to Brazil. My life was never the same again. I carry the trauma with me.”
Marcela said that Bruna was not a statistic.
“I do not see statistics. I see a familiar face. A name. A story. A man decides to take somone’s life. And the question that remains is how little is your life worth.
"A life that was taken because a woman was not allowed to move on, to choose, to love, to live her own life.”
The evidence was that Miller sent Bruna over two thousand messages from when he arrived in Ireland on November 18th, 2022, to her death on January 1st, 2023.
Miller had claimed that he was trying to stop Bruna from hitting him when her death occurred. In garda interviews he said that he had caught Bruna in a choke hold around the neck in a move he had “seen on TV.” The jury unanimously rejected his explanation.
Bruna had gone to a New Year’s Eve party at the Oyster Tavern in Cork. In a text she told Miller she just wanted to “dance and have fun.” Her aim she said was to have “peace and tranquility” in her life.
Miller followed her around the venue. He also filmed her kissing another man and sent it to his friends back home in Brazil. At the end of the night she agreed not go to his apartment so that they could FaceTime his relatives back home in Brazil who were looking after their beloved dog, D’Eagle.
Miller told gardai that he did not mean to kill Bruna. He said that he wasn’t a a ‘monster’ and insisted he was “not that person who kills someone I love.”
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster save that Bruna died from asphyxia due to manual strangulation. Bruna has suffered over 65 external and internal bruises to her body.
Speaking after the hearing, her niece Maria said that Bruna was like a sunny day in the rainy season.
The Fonseca family thanked all those who assisted them since the murder of Bruna. They cheered and embraced on the steps of the courthouse.
Her sister Izabel had said in her evidence to the court that Bruna’s dream was to eventually live in France.
She said Bruna had big dreams, which she would have fulfilled if she had been given the opportunity to do so.
Bruna was laid to rest in a plot with her grandparents in a cemetery perched on a hill in her home town of Formiga.
