Man found guilty of the murder of Bruna Fonseca

Olivia Kelleher

A 32-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of his ex-girlfriend who was strangled to death after she went to his flat in Cork to FaceTime a family member who was minding their dog back home in Brazil.

A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork took one hour and two minutes to unanimously convict Miller Pacheco of the killing of Bruna Fonseca on New Year’s Day 2023 in his rented flat in Liberty Street in Cork city.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford thanked the jury of seven women and five men for their diligent service. She excused them for jury service for a period of five years.

The family of Ms Fonseca cried and embraced each other when the verdict was returned. Miller Pacheco wept and was hugged by his parents when the Judge retired to her chambers.

Sentencing will occur at noon on Friday. However, a life sentence is mandatory when the verdict is that of murder. Victim impact statements will be made by members of the Fonseca family at the sentencing hearing.

Bruna, 28, who was a university graduate, had moved to this country from Brazil in September 2022 with her young niece in search of a “better life.”

Bruna and Miller had been together for five years. The couple, who were both from Formiga in Minas Gerais province, split within days of Bruna coming to Cork in November 2022.

Bruna repeatedly apologised to Miller for ending the relationship. She tried to help him pick up the pieces as he was devastated following the split.

The couple had previously broken up for several months in 2022 prior to moving to Ireland. In texts Bruna had told Miller that she had walked on eggshells during the time they were apart as she feared he would end his life.

The jurors heard that Bruna died as a result of asphyxia due to manual strangulation. Prosecution senior counsel, Bernard Condon had characterised the killing as a case of “If I can’t have her, nobody can.”

Mr Condon called Miller Pacheco an “arch manipulator” and “coward.” He noted that Miller had recorded Bruna kissing a man in the early hours of New Year’s Day at a party in Cork city centre. He then sent the recording back to his best friends in Brazil via WhatsApp with an attitude of “poor me, poor me.”

Mr Condon said that a jealous Miller had the “intention” of killing Bruna for period before it occurred. The trial had heard that his web history on December 19th, 2022, had included a visit to a site entitled “How to Kill in Three Seconds.”

On the same night there was a visit to another website on “what are the necessary conditions to kill someone” and a site entitled “three ways to fight well with knives.”

Miller also carried out searches on the cost of repatriating a body to Brazil. Defence senior counsel Ray Boland said that Miller had intended to end his life.

Following the killing Miller FaceTimed his two best friends in Brazil and told them what he had done. When they refused to believe him he turned the camera on his phone around to show them the body of his ex-girlfriend on the bed.

Meanwhile, Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, told the jury that she found evidence of more than 65 external and internal injuries on Bruna’s head, body and limbs, including bruising to her neck area.

Dr Bolster said that the “extensive bruising” was in keeping manual strangulation with a hand constraining the neck.

“Fingers on the left side, thumb on the right side, it would have been done with the right hand.”

Mr Boland, said that the account of his client was that he had tried to restrain Bruna in a chokehold after she started hitting him in his apartment.

Miller had told gardaí that he used a move he had seen on TV and did not mean to kill Bruna. He said that he wasn’t “a monster” or a person “who kills someone I love.”

The evidence was that Miller sent Bruna almost 2,000 texts between his arrival in Cork on November 18th, 2022, and her death on January 1st, 2023.

These included videos and pictures of their dog “D’Eagle” whom he repeatedly referred to as their “son” in what the Prosecution called his “emotional manipulation” of his ex.

The jury heard that Miller even went to the hospital where Bruna worked on Christmas Day 2022 looking for her. He showed a staff member her picture and asked if she recognised her.

Staff members remembered him “hanging around” the Mercy University Hospital in the city. One staff member who was approached by Miller indicated that he seemed “erratic and distressed.”

On the same day Bruna texted him saying that he was “playing the victim.” She pleaded with him to get help and said that the “terrorising” of her was “too much.”

She asked him not to talk to her or look for her again. On two occasions that day he texted Bruna telling her she was a “bad person.”

Bruna repeatedly urged Miller to get psychiatric help. She also offered to pay for him to go home to Brazil.

The evidence was that Bruna had gone dancing with friends at Oyster Tavern in Cork city on New Year’s Eve 2022. Earlier that day she had become concerned that Miller would self-harm. She took a knife from him.

She was concerned about him being alone and told him that she would be at party in the pub if he wanted to come. Poignantly, Bruna texted Miller and said that she wanted to “dance and have fun” that night. He asked her to stay in his flat that night and she refused.

She said she would try to drop in to his flat after festivities in the Oyster Tavern in the event of him not turning up at the venue. All she wanted going forward she told him was “peace and tranquility.”

Bruna went to the party and bumped into a Brazilian man she had first met at an event the previous Halloween. The pair danced together and kissed. However, unknown to Bruna she was being recorded kissing the man by Miller.

Her niece Maria Luiza Fonseca recalled Miller following them around the venue. Maria spoke of hugging Bruna in the countdown to midnight. They parted ways at around 3am outside the venue. Maria never saw her life alive again.

Bruna went back to the flat with Miller in the early hours of New Year’s Day, 2023, to FaceTime their dog in Brazil. Miller knew at this time that the call was not going to occur as a family member had told him that the dog was asleep.

Instead of continuing to learn English at a school in Cork and going on pursue her dream of travel Bruna ended up dead in a small room in a flat in Cork city centre.

Family members of the deceased and the accused were in court for the trial. Following the murder a vigil was held at The Lough in Cork city. Friends of Bruna said that she was “like a sunny day in the rainy season.”

Members of the Brazilian and Irish community held white candles and white roses in what was a celebration of life for the “loving daughter, sister and friend.” Her sister Izabel accompanied her remains on the long repatriation journey to their native Brazil. She was waked in her home.

Bruna was laid to rest in a plot with her grandparents in a cemetery perched on a hill in her hometown of Formiga.