The bathtub murder of a Portuguese man in Setúbal earlier this year has seen his former partner, and her Brazilian lover, remanded in custody.
Correio da Manhã tabloid says that “for months, the pair thought they had committed the perfect crime, but they were arrested by PJ police last week, along with one of the material authors of the homicide. The other continues at large.”
The case rests on issues between the victim and the mother of his only child, an eight year old who has now inherited her father’s estate, which includes three properties, a BMW car and ‘other valuable items’.
Luísa Sanheiro wanted to travel to Brazil with her 32-year-old lover, Edeuarder Santos, and her daughter, but the child’s father, Afonso Belo, 44, did not give his permission for the child to leave the country, fearing, says CM, that he would never see her again.
“It was because of this that Luísa and Edeuarder came up with a plan that would resolve all the problems,” says the paper.
“With (the help of) two accomplices (also Brazilian), they killed Afonso”.
The porter at Setúbal’s Mercado do Livramento was ambushed by Edeuarder and his two accomplices as he arrived home on May 20. He was tried up, and pushed into his bathtub where his throat was slit.
A young woman who rented a room in the same apartment was surprised by the group, who tied her up but left her otherwise unharmed. They then ‘turned the apartment upside down’ to make the incident look like a burglary “that had gone wrong”, says CM.
Suspicions nonetheless appear always to have been there. Local newspaper O Setubalense explains that “on the day of Afonso’s funeral, friends of the victim suspected that his ex-partner, Luísa Sanheiro, had something to do with his death”.
For now, PJ police appear to have rounded up almost everyone they believe was involved in the slaughter.
There is no information on who will be looking after the 8-year-old child now that her father is dead, and her mother is behind bars.
Source material: Correio da Manhã/ O Setubalense/ Notícias ao Minuto
Natasha Donn
Journalist for the Portugal Resident.