A court has sentenced a man who killed his wife by hacking her to death with a machete to just 15 years in prison after he admitted his guilt and described himself as a “monster”.
The court in the Brazilian municipality of Luis Correia sentenced 34-year-old Raimundo Neto Pereira to 15 years and eight months in prison.
Pereira was found guilty of murdering his wife, 28-year-old teacher Selene Veras Roque, at their rural home where they lived with their seven-year-old daughter on 8th June 2018. He had hacked her 26 times with the machete by the time she died, the court heard.
It is believed the crime followed an argument caused by Pereira’s failure to pick his wife up from a course she was taking in the neighbouring municipality of Parnaiba on the previous day.
The argument culminated with Roque saying she no longer loved Pereira and wanted to leave him.
Pereira had been drinking at a bar before committing the crime, which he told the court he did not remember and only came to his senses to find his wife’s dead body on the floor.
He told the jury: “I want to pay for what I did. I will never forgive myself for what I did… I not only destroyed myself and my wife; I destroyed my whole family. I was a monster to do something like that.”
Despite his apparent remorse, the victim’s family believes the sentence meted out to Pereira was mild.
The victim’s family’s lawyer, Carlos Eduardo Coutinho, said he was considering appealing the decision to try to get the prison term increased.
Pereira and Roque had been together for 12 years. When they started dating, Roque was just 15 years old.
According to the victim’s mother, Silvia dos Santos, the couple frequently argued and Pereira was violent towards her daughter. Pereira, however, denied assaulting her on other occasions.
Pereira’s defence had previously tried to plea mental insanity for its client – to no avail.
Police chief Maikon Kaestner spoke of the defendant’s “jealousy” and his “frayed” relationship with his wife.
Unless an appeal is lodged, the case will be considered closed.
