A
star footballer is to go on trial accused of torturing and killing his
mistress, then feeding her dismembered body parts to his pet dogs. Married Bruno
Fernandes de Souza, 27, a goalkeeper once tipped to play for Brazil, is
alleged to have turned model Eliza Samudio ‘into a human sacrifice’ to
preserve his reputation after she gave birth to his love child….continue reading
He
is already serving a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence after being
convicted of assaulting and abducting Ms Samudio, 25, but will be tried
for her murder later this year.
Prosecutors
allege that Bruno planned Ms Samudio’s kidnap and murder with eight
others, including his wifeDayane, a teenage cousin and former detective
Luiz Santos, all of whom have been charged with murder, conspiracy to
murder and kidnapping.
The
goalkeeper, who played for Brazilian club Flamengo, is said to have
watched as Santos committed ‘barbaric tortures’ on Ms Samudio before
helping the former detective dismember her body.
Parts of the woman’s body are alleged to have been fed to Bruno’s dogs while the rest was buried in concrete.
Bruno
is accused of ordering his wife to tell people that his love child, who
was four months old at the time of the killing, had been adopted by
them from a poor relative.
Bruno,
whose contract with Flamengo has been suspended, also faces charges of kidnapping, hiding a body and forming a criminal gang with intent to
murder.
He has however maintained his innocence throughout, claiming he has a ‘clear conscience’.