During the trial, Flordelis said that she suffered insults, beatings and sexual abuse from her husband.
A court in the Brazilian city of Niterói sentenced former federal deputy and evangelical leader Flordelis Dos Santos Souza to 50 years and 28 days in prison for ordering the murder of her husband, gospel singer and pastor Anderson do Carmo, they report. local media.
She was also found guilty of attempted murder with poison, forgery of documents and armed criminal association.
Flordelis dos Santos de Souza is a former member of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies who represented Rio de Janeiro. Her husband, who was 42 years old at the time of her death, was shot several times in June 2019 when he returned to her house, which he shared with her more than 50 children, between biological and adopted .
In 1994, the then teacher Flordelis adopted 37 homeless children who survived the Candelaria massacre, perpetrated the previous year by paramilitaries against a group of minors apparently involved in criminal activities.
One of those adopted minors was Anderson Do Carmo, who later became his adoptive mother’s lover. Together they founded the Comunidade Evangélica Ministério Flordelis church, which later became a “block of contention,” according to prosecutors.
The investigation of Anderson’s murder concluded that the former deputy financed the purchase of weapons used in the crime and warned about the arrival of the victim at the place where he was shot. Also, she tried to kill her husband by adding poison to her food and drink at least six times.
Six people have already been convicted in the case. These are two biological children of Flordelis, Simone and Flávio dos Santos Rodrigues, who were sentenced to more than 30 years in prison, their adopted son Lucas Cézar dos Santos Souza (7 years in prison), as well as other relatives of the victim.
“When the money started to arrive, the disagreements came”
During the trial, Flordelis said that she suffered insults, beatings and sexual abuse from her husband, but denied all the accusations against her, O Globo collects. In general, the defense of the former parliamentarian maintained that the murdered man was a sexual predator who abused not only his wife, but also several of his daughters and granddaughters.
“I only enjoyed it if I got hurt,” the woman testified through tears, adding that, despite being mistreated, she “died along with her husband.” “I don’t have to pay for anyone’s mistakes. I’ve been paying for three years for something I haven’t done. They call me the mastermind behind killing the man she loved the most in this life,” she stated.
In any case, the investigators argued that the crime was not motivated by these alleged abuses, but by the struggle for power and money from the evangelical church that the couple had founded.
“When the money began to arrive, the disagreements arrived, […]the desire to have more and share less,” said one of the prosecutors.
In a statement, the defense of the former deputy affirms that the sentence was pronounced “despite the lack of evidence.” “I understand that the conviction was improper, which is certainly due to the pressure of public opinion formed from the crime. Considering that several absolute annulments occurred during the trial, I inform that I will appeal the sentence, looking for a fair trial to occur in the future, “the text indicates.
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