This video shows the moment a young trans woman is brutally stabbed to death by a group of other trans women in a row over who could take the best spot to offer sex for sale.
The murder of Aghata Lios, 23, took place in the administrative region of Taguatinga in Brazil’s Federal District on 26th January 2017.
Now, nearly five years on, five people have been sentenced over the crime.
The Jury Court of Taguatinga handed down the sentences on Thursday, 18th November, just two days after the trial started.
The defendants, all trans women, have now been sentenced.
Carolina Andrade got 13 years and four months in prison, Lohanny Castro got 19 years in prison, Samira (surname not stated) also got 19 years in prison, Bruna Alencar got 20 years in prison and Leticia Oliveira Santos was given 23 years in prison.
The first four defendants’ legal or birth names are Daniel Ferreira Goncalves, Deyvisson Pinto Castro, Francisco Delton Lopes Castro and Greyson Laudelino Pessoa respectively. Santos’ was not reported.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Federal District, the victim was killed over a dispute over a prostitution spot. Both the victim and the defendants are all believed to have been working as prostitutes.
Judge Joao Marcos Guimaraes Silva commented on the “absurd cruelty” of the crime, noting that the victim was attacked with knife and machete blows.
He was reported as saying in local media including G1: “Rarely has this court been faced with such violence.”
In addition to aggravated murder, Andrade was also sentenced for theft for having stolen the victim’s handbag after her death.
CCTV footage of the incident shows how one of the defendants grabs the victim by the hair and stabs her while the others help to hold her in place.
Police chief Glaucia Cristina said at the time: “Agatha disagreed with the way in which these horrible people lived, fighting and robbing their clients. And there was jealousy because Agatha was, in fact, very beautiful.”
Andrade and Castro were arrested after robbing a man who gave them a lift in the city of Manaus six months after the murder.
Alencar was arrested in the city of Sao Paulo in March of the following year over another murder.
Samira was arrested in the city of Goiania in May 2019.
Santos did not directly participate in the murder, but she was convicted over supplying a weapon used in the crime.
Both Castro and Santos were also found guilty of corruption of minors, though local media did not report how those charges related to the murder.
It was not reported if the sentences can be appealed.
