A 27-year-old man, accused by the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Sul (MPRS), was sentenced on Wednesday, August 19th, to 46 years in prison for femicide. The crime occurred in June of last year in the municipality of Cerro Grande, in the northern region of the state, after the end of the relationship between the defendant and the victim. The 27-year-old woman was shot dead. This was the first case of femicide as an independent crime judged in the jurisdiction of Rodeio Bonito.
The jury accepted the argument presented by MPRS and recognized the authorship and materiality of the crime. They also rejected the claims of legitimate defense and the defendant's version that the shot was directed at another person who allegedly attacked him. It was also recognized that the murder was committed in a context of domestic and family violence and using a means that hindered the victim's defense.
According to the indictment, the convicted man was armed and went to the woman's house, broke in and fired the fatal shot. The trial found that the victim was surprised in her own home, in an extremely vulnerable situation.
During the jury trial, Prosecutor Jéssica Cordeiro da Rocha, responsible for the case, argued for the application of the aggravating circumstance of the base motive and maintained that the crime was motivated by a feeling of possession and jealousy on the part of the accused, who could not accept the end of the relationship. The judge agreed, concluding that the femicide occurred because the convicted person did not respect the victim's autonomy to end the relationship and live her life freely and independently.
The sentence was set at 46 years and 8 months of imprisonment, initially in a closed regime. Additionally, the defendant was ordered to pay R$ 50,000 in moral damages. The judge also ordered the maintenance of preventive detention and the immediate beginning of the sentence.