Jury of mother and stepmother for murder of boy Miguel begins on Thursday and should last two days

The last image obtained of Miguel dos Santos Rodrigues, seven years old, is of an apathetic, thin boy with deep dark circles under his eyes. The photograph was taken at a guesthouse in Imbé, on the North Coast, where he lived, in July 2021. In the same month, the boy disappeared and his mother, Yasmin Vaz dos Santos Rodrigues, 28, and her partner, Bruna Nathiele Porto da Rosa, 26, was arrested on suspicion of having murdered the child. The two will go to jury for the crime starting next Thursday (4), in Tramandaí. The trial is expected to last two days.

On July 29 of that year, Yasmin and Bruna confessed to the police that Miguel had been beaten to death and that his body had been thrown into the waters of the Tramandaí River. The body was never located, despite the search operation that mobilized firefighters, police officers and residents of the Coast.

Arrested since then, they respond for torturing the boy, murdering him and hiding his body. Seven jurors will decide whether the two are guilty or innocent of the crimes with which they are accused.

In total, there are nine witnesses who must speak during the trial. By the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), responsible for the accusation against the mother and stepmother, three will be heard. One of them is delegate Antônio Carlos Ractz Júnior, who coordinated the investigation of the case. It was the police officer who indicted the two for the crimes of murder, concealment of a corpse and torture. Two brigadiers will also be heard, who participated in the initial assistance, shortly after Yasmin and Bruna went to the police, claiming that Miguel had disappeared from the inn where they lived.

According to the defenses, six witnesses are expected, including family members and friends of the defendants. The owners of the two inns where Yasmin and Bruna lived with Miguel during the period they lived in Imbé will also be heard.

The first of them is an elderly woman, who days after the crime told GZH that the child lived there for around three months. During the time he was there, the boy remained locked up for so long that the owner suggested to his mother that she let the boy get some sun. The elderly woman reported never having heard screams or any call for help from Miguel.

The defendants will also be questioned during the trial. In the pre-trial phase of the case, only Bruna chose to talk about the case and Yasmin remained silent.

Bruna said that, before his death, Miguel would have been intensely attacked by his mother, which even explains a mark on the wall of the room in the inn where the three lived. The stepmother’s testimony lasted around 50 minutes in this previous phase.

Now the expectation is that the two will present their versions. One possibility is for the defendants to choose to answer only the defense’s questions, and not the prosecution’s.

MP must present more elements
According to the Public Ministry’s complaint, the child was killed by the two women, in the early hours of July 29, 2021, after being tortured and doped with medication, and her body was placed inside a suitcase. After that, they would have gone to the Tramandaí River and thrown the body.

The police also obtained images of the route, showing the two walking towards the river. The suitcase, which would have been discarded, was seized during the investigation and thrown into a trash bin. The reason for the crime, according to the accusation, would be because the boy represented an obstacle to the relationship, in their opinion.

Public Prosecutor André Tarouco, responsible for the complaint, hopes that the two will be convicted of the crimes of which they are accused. The MP must present, during the debate phase, evidence that has not yet been publicized, although it is in the process. One of the points that the prosecution must address is the motivation for the crime.

— May we achieve, in the end, with the sentencing decision, which we know will not change the fact that has already occurred, however, it will send a message that society does not tolerate this type of behavior and violence against any child. It would mark the end of a cycle of violence, which began in 2021. A victim who did not have the slightest possibility of asking for help, in which a boy could not even have a dignified burial, by anyone, by any other family member — says the prosecutor.

Miguel’s body was never located, even though searches were carried out for almost 50 days. The decision to end the search was made after firefighters searched the Tramandaí River and traveled along the beachfront for days on end, looking for any trace that could lead to the location of the body. The suspicion is that he was dragged out to sea by the current. The fact that the boy’s body was never found must be debated in the jury. The MP maintains that this proves that the two actually committed the concealment of a corpse.

— It shows that, with the intention of hiding the body and leaving no trace of the crime, and this was very premeditated when they made a false report of their son’s disappearance, at that point they were successful. The fact that the body was not found does not affect criminal liability, due to the evidence in the case. That night, inside the inn, they actually killed Miguel, put him in a suitcase and later threw him into the river. And, as a result, due to these current and sea issues, the body has not been located to this day — highlights the prosecutor.

Mother’s defense will ask for conviction
Yasmin’s defense does not intend to ask for her mother’s acquittal for the crime, on the contrary. According to lawyer Thais Constantin, the aim is to allow jurors to analyze the expert evidence contained in the case and judge the mother based on this.

— Our bench will work so that the Sentencing Council decides on its own free conviction, based on a critical look at each piece of evidence in the case file. Likewise, demonstrating that the evidentiary content was based on Yasmin’s confession, failing to analyze the compatibility of her statements with the expert evidence formalized by the General Institute of Expertise. We trust that, at the end of this trial, the jurors, removed from social pressure, will convict Yasmin, based on the acts she actually carried out – maintains the defense.

Responsible for Bruna’s defense, lawyer Ueslei Boeira states that he intends to demonstrate in plenary that the stepmother was not directly responsible for the boy’s death.

— It is an extensive process and we are seeking in every detail to work on a technical and clarifying defense, giving Bruna a voice, so that the Sentencing Council can judge within the reality of the facts and according to the evidence in the case, according to its consciences, and that they can decide, if they understand Bruna’s guilt or innocence. Therefore, we will seek to demonstrate that Bruna did not directly contribute to the result. We hope it will be a fair and respectful trial for all parties – says the criminalist.

The crimes
The defendants will be tried for triple homicide, torture and concealment of a corpse. The qualifiers are a clumsy motive, a cruel means and a resource that made the victim difficult. In addition to the aggravating circumstances of a crime committed against a minor under 14 years of age, and for Yasmin against a descendant.

The jury

• The judge who will preside over the jury is Judge Gilberto Pinto Fontoura, head of the 1st Criminal Court of Tramandaí.
• The session is scheduled to start at 9am, at the Tramandaí Forum, with live broadcast.
• The first step is to draw seven jurors, who will decide whether the defendants are guilty of the crimes or not.
• Soon after, the hearings of the nine witnesses begin, those for the prosecution, and later those for the defense.
• After that, the defendants will be questioned. The two can choose to remain silent or even answer only the defense’s questions.
• After this phase, debates between the prosecution and defense begin. In the first stage, each party, the prosecution and the two defenses together will have up to two and a half hours. Soon after, comes the reply lasting up to two hours and the rejoinder lasting the same amount of time.
• Finally, the jurors meet and decide whether the defendants are guilty or innocent of the crimes of which they are accused.
• After the vote, it is up to the judge, in case of conviction, to define the penalty that will be applied to the defendants.

Timeline

On the 29th, Yasmin looks for the Tramandaí Emergency Police Station to register her son’s disappearance, which, according to her, had occurred two days earlier. The police are suspicious of the report and follow the mother and stepmother, Bruna, to the inn where they lived. There, they end up confessing that the child was killed and her body was thrown into the river. Yasmin claims to have acted alone and is arrested.

Three days after the crime was discovered, the stepmother was temporarily arrested. The arrest occurs after the police analyzed Bruna’s cell phone and finding content, such as messages and videos, that led to the conclusion that she had, at the very least, participated in the mistreatment of the boy. In one of the videos, the woman appears threatening to beat the boy and keeping the boy locked in a closet. Throughout the month, she is transferred to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute (IPF).

Police chief Antônio Carlos Ractz Júnior takes the investigation to court, indicting the boy’s mother and stepmother for the crimes of torture, qualified homicide, cruel means and resources that made the victim’s defense impossible, and concealment of a corpse. Ten days later, the MP denounces the two for triple homicide (adds the foul motive), torture and concealment of a corpse.

After 48 days, firefighters from the North Coast ended the search for the body of the boy Miguel on the 14th of that month. Since the case was discovered, teams have been carrying out sweeps in several cities, looking for the child. Throughout the operation, firefighters used boats, aircraft and a drone. On the same day, the IPF releases a report stating that Bruna has no changes in her mental health.

On the 8th, over the course of five hours, a simulated reproduction of the facts is carried out, popularly known as reconstruction. Only the stepmother participates in the investigation and demonstrates how the crime would have happened. It also runs the route between the inn and the riverbank. As soon as they see Bruna burst onto Avenida Paraguassú, residents shout repeatedly: “Murderer!” Near the Tramandaí River, the stepmother indicates the place where Yasmin opened the suitcase and threw her son’s body.

On the 19th, in a court hearing, Bruna points out Yasmin as responsible for Miguel’s death. She also reports that her partner constantly attacked her son. Bruna says that Miguel had been attacked by his mother, even leaving a mark on the wall, where he had hit the child’s head.

The stepmother also reports that the boy was drugged and his body was placed inside a suitcase, after being locked in a light pit and in a closet for hours. Yasmin chooses to remain silent.

Judge Gilberto Pinto Fontoura, from Tramandaí, determines that the two defendants must be tried by the Jury Court. In addition to triple homicide, the mother and stepmother are charged with torture and hiding a corpse. For the magistrate, there is evidence that the boy suffered “intense physical and mental suffering”, for example, being deprived of adequate food and kept trapped for long periods in a wardrobe.

In a virtual session held by the 3rd Criminal Chamber, the RS Court of Justice unanimously denies the defense’s appeal and maintains the decision that leads Yasmin and Bruna to the jury. In the decision, the collegiate also denies the defendants’ request for release. The defenses sought that they not be submitted to the jury and that the hearings be held again. Against this decision, the defenses filed appeals, which were not admitted by the TJ-RS. As a result, the defenses appealed to the STJ.

The case returns to the Rio Grande do Sul Court after all appeals from the defendants’ defenses are denied. The trial date is set by judge Gilberto Pinto Fontoura for April 4th.