An auxiliary cop and former city councillor has handed himself in to the police after he shot dead his beautiful wife 25 years his junior, leaving their toddler son without a mum.

Joel Morais de Azevedo Junior, 51, handed himself in to the Civil Police (Brazil’s investigative police force) station in the city of Muriae in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

He was accompanied by his lawyer when he handed himself in on Wednesday afternoon, 8th November, and confessed to killing his wife, 26-year-old Priscila Silva Dala Paula Azevedo.

After admitting to his actions, he chose to remain silent. The suspect’s lawyer, Ricardo Couri, said his client was “psychologically broken” and “remembers nothing”.

According to the Civil Police, the suspect had called his lawyers on Wednesday morning to tell them he had “messed up” and wanted to hand himself in to the police.

During questioning, he told the police he had shot his wife dead with his work pistol, which he handed over to the officers. The crime is believed to have taken place at around 6 AM.

The suspect had retired from the Military Police (Brazil’s preventive police force), but remained at the force’s disposal as an auxiliary officer, thereby keeping his gun.

He also once worked as a councillor in Muriae, according to local reports.

The couple had a son aged one year and 10 months, who is now under his maternal grandmother’s care.

The Civil Police’s request for the suspect to be remanded in custody was judicially authorised.

He was taken to a Military Police battalion in the city of Uba, also in Minas Gerais, where he will remain while the investigation continues.

Local media did not speculate on the motive for the crime.