Wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and two others are sentenced to more than 90 years for murdering bar owner in MT

After more than 18 hours of trial, defendants Nathalia Haiana Ramos da Silva, Larissa Pamela Ramos da Silva, Maria Geralda Pereira Ramos, Lougas Augusto and Mateus Costa Barcelos were convicted of triple homicide in a session of the Jury Court in the district of Aripuanã ( 1,002km from Cuiabá), on April 23rd (Tuesday). They will begin serving their sentence in a closed regime and will not be able to appeal the sentence while free. The combined sentences reach 93 years in prison

The crime was committed in January 2021, against Márcio José da Silva, who owned a bar. The victim’s wife, Nathalia Haiana, her sister, Larissa Pamela, and her mother Maria Geralda were also ordered to pay court costs and expenses. Lougas and Mateus will not need to pay court costs, as they were represented by the Public Defender’s Office and an appointed lawyer.

The Sentencing Council accepted the thesis of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Mato Grosso and recognized the qualifiers of a bad motive, use of torture and an appeal that made the victim’s defense difficult. Lougas was sentenced to 23 years, eight months and 20 days for qualified homicide and kidnapping/private imprisonment. The remaining convicts received a sentence of 17 years and four months for the crimes of qualified homicide and corruption of a minor. Substitute prosecutor William Johnny Chae served on the jury’s plenary session.

The crime occurred on the Salvação rural road, in Aripuanã. The accused, “acting in conjunction with people (…), aiming for a common objective (…), killed the victim Márcio José da Silva”, narrates the complaint. The victim was hit by several gunshots, was rescued and transferred to Cuiabá, but died days later. According to investigations, on the day of the crime Lougas and a teenager went to the house of the victim’s son, Jonas Roberto Cardoso Silva, captured him and forced him to take them to his father’s house.

When they arrived at Márcio José da Silva’s house, where the accused Nathalia (wife) was also present, they captured the victim and took the father and son with their hands and feet tied to the scene of the crime, the rural road Salvação. Later, they were taken into the forest, where a series of tortures began against Márcio. The attackers asked questions regarding alleged adultery, aggression and mistreatment against Nathalia and sexual violation of her sister-in-law Larissa. For each response that didn’t match what they expected, they slapped the victim in the face.

Lougas and the teenager then took Jonas back to the car and returned to the forest where Márcio was, at which time the teenager shot the victim. After the crime, they went to the house of Maria Geralda, Nathalia’s mother, and announced that the “job was done”.