An abusive doctor has been sentenced to 41 years and eight months behind bars for killing his girlfriend by beating her over the head on their engagement night when she was five months pregnant.
Fernando Verissimo de Carvalho, 30, was sentenced for killing Beatriz Nuala Soares Milano, 23, by judge Wagner Plaza Machado Junior in the city of Rondonopolis in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso last Wednesday, 10th November.
Milano, a veterinarian, was found dead in the couple’s home in the neighbourhood of Vila Aurora in Rondonopolis on 24th November 2018, local media outlets, including G1, reported at the time.
The police were called to the scene by Carvalho, who told the cops he found Milano dead on the floor in their bedroom.
The autopsy revealed that Milano had died from head trauma after suffering a blow to the head.
The police questioned Carvalho and he told them that on the night of the incident, he and Milano got home at around 11 pm after going out for dinner, where she agreed to marry him.
Milano went to bed and Carvalho stayed in the living room drinking, he told the cops, according to G1.
At around 3 am, after falling asleep on the sofa and waking up, Carvalho walked into the bedroom and found Milano dead.
The cops were not convinced by his version of events and he became the prime suspect in his pregnant girlfriend’s death.
According to G1, Carvalho went on the run from the cops, who tracked him down almost a month after the murder, at his parents’ house in the city of Ribeirao Preto in the state of Sao Paulo.
He was then transferred back to Rondonopolis and held in detention while awaiting trial.
The prosecutor in the case claimed that the couple got home and an argument broke out over financial issues, which ended with Carvalho beating Milano over the head with a blunt object.
The suspect maintained his innocence throughout the trial and said that he believed that Milano died from an aneurysm.
Marcio Landi, the coroner, told the court: “It is clear that she suffered external aggressions through the action of a blunt instrument, it is clear that it was more than one injury and that these injuries caused the haemorrhages.”
Testimony from the victim’s family stated that Carvalho was a very jealous and often abused Milano, according to the news site UOL.
WhatsApp messages sent by the victim to her friends and family seen by the court seemingly confirmed the abuse she suffered.
In one message sent to her mother, Nazare Soares, she wrote: “He is mean to me for no reason. He comes into the room just to mistreat me, call me names. Mum, I can’t take it anymore.”
In another message to a friend following one of her boyfriend’s violent outbursts, she wrote: “I’m scared. I have to be careful not to be the next case we see on TV.”
Almost three years after the crime, Carvalho has been sentenced to over 41 years behind bars for aggravated murder and inducing a miscarriage without the victim’s consent.
Barbara Milano, the victim’s sister, said that they had waited three years for the verdict, but now that it has been delivered, there can be peace.
She added: “The victory belongs to all women.”
In some reports, Carvalho’s age was given as 28 and Milano’s as 27.
