Brazilian woman (28) strangled by ex-boyfriend after coming to Ireland for 'better life', court hears

Olivia Kelleher

A young Brazilian woman was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend after she went to his apartment in Cork city so that they could make a FaceTime call back home to see their pet dog, to whom they were “very attached”, a murder trial has heard.

Miller Pacheco (31) of Formiga in Minas Gerais in Brazil has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 28-year-old Bruna Fonseca at an apartment in Liberty Street in Cork city centre on January 1st, 2023.

A jury of seven women and five men heard an outline of the case on Monday at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork.

Prosecution senior counsel Bernard Condon said that Ms Fonseca, who was a university graduate, had moved to Ireland in 2022 for a “better life.”

He indicated that Bruna was from the same small town as the accused. He said that the pair had been in a relationship in 2022. However, they broke up and Bruna “appeared to have moved on” with her life.

Bruna arrived in Ireland with her niece Maria in September 2022 and took up employment as a cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital in the city. Mr Pacheco relocated to Ireland in November 2022 and was employed at a restaurant in MacCurtain Street, Cork city.

The jury were told that Bruna was in a new relationship at this point. However, the former couple still interacted. Mr Condon said that Miller sent lots of text messages to Bruna.

Mr Condon said that the jury would hear that by December 20th, 2022, Bruna wanted Miller to “leave her alone.”

By this stage, Bruna was living in an apartment on the Southern Road in Cork city. They both attended a Christmas Eve party at a cousin of Bruna’s in Barrack Street in Cork city.

The jury were told that the evidence would be that Miller had his “eyes fixed on her” (Bruna) at the party. He said that they would hear evidence on how “well or not he (the accused) had taken the breakup.”

He told the jury that they would hear evidence from staff at the hospital where Bruna was employed prior to her death. Mr Condon said that they would give evidence to the effect that he (the accused) was “hanging around where she worked and interacting with radiography staff” on Christmas Day, 2022.

Mr Condon said that Bruna and Miller attended the same New Year’s Eve event at the Oyster Tavern in Cork city centre. He stated that whilst at the event, the accused recorded Bruna dancing and kissing a man.

When the party ended at around 3am, Bruna and Miller went to a room he was renting in Liberty Street in order to make a FaceTime call home to see their dog.

However, around 90 minutes later, several people who were living nearby heard loud screaming. One of the people who heard a woman screaming said that it was all “screaming — no words.”

The screams were heard by people in a restaurant and by a priest in the nearby Franciscan friary.

Mr Condon said that the trial would involve a large amount of evidence relating to texts and phone calls. One call at 5.15am on January 1st, 2023, involved Miller Pacheco telling a friend, “Forgive me, there is no way back now.”

When the person asked after Bruna Fonseca, the accused turned the phone around to show the body of a woman on the bed beside him.

Mr Condon said that gardaí called to the flat in Liberty Street shortly after 6am on January 1st after receiving a call from a member of the public. However, nobody answered the door.

At 6.17am two friends of the deceased, who had become aware of the screaming at the flat, went to Liberty Street and encountered the accused standing at the door holding a bed sheet, which he later disposed of in a wheelie bin. Asked if he had killed Bruna, the accused replied: “It wasn’t me.”

Gardaí subsequently attended the scene a second time. Ms Fonseca was pronounced dead at the flat.

In his garda interviews, Miller Pacheco claimed that he had an anxiety attack in the apartment.

He insisted that Bruna had hit him in the face. He claimed that he was trying to stop her and fell on top of her. He said that he did a move he had seen on TV. Mr Condon said that the “move” Mr Pacheco was talking about involved him putting “his arm around her neck.”

The accused claimed that he hadn’t wanted to harm his ex-girlfriend. Mr Pacheco claimed that they were “fighting like two men” and he “wanted the fight to be over.”

Mr Condon said that a postmortem examination was completed by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster. Asphyxiation was determined to be the cause of death

Mr Pacheco is being assisted in court by a Portuguese interpreter in court. He is being represented by Ray Boland SC. He was an engineer in Brazil prior to his relocation to Ireland.

Members of the Fonseca family have travelled from Brazil for the trial. Bruna was buried in Formiga on January 16th, 2023. The qualified librarian is survived by her parents, Tadeu Jose Fonseca and Marina Dos Reis Palharares Fonseca and her sister Izabel.