November 21, 2010 was marked for the family of “boy Joel”, who died with a gunshot to the face when he was getting ready to sleep in his room, on the first floor of the house where he lived with his father, mother and sister, in Northeast of Amaralina, in Salvador. In front of the Ruy Barbosa Forum, before the start of the trial of the police officers identified as perpetrators of the crime, Joel’s sister, Jéssica Carolina Castro, remembers the day she saw her brother lose his life.
“I miss Joel a lot. He was a charming boy, full of dreams. I was a teenager, 16 years old, Joel was 10. I dreamed much bigger than me. The way it hurts so much. We were in front of the house and we heard a lot of gunshots. My father had called me to go up (home) and Joel told my father that there was a lot of shooting outside. My father asked him to leave it alone and for us to go into the room to sleep. It was when my father was preparing the mattress at the time, because we didn’t have a bed. And we saw Joel being shot,” he said.
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>> Those accused of killing Joel will be tried this Monday; remember the case
After 13 years, the family is trying to fill the void left by the loss of the child. According to Jéssica, her father, Joel de Castro, 55 years old, maintains a social project focused on capoeira. “My father, he has a social project where he includes children from 10 years of age where he doesn’t have any help, but he does it with a lot of love, a lot of affection because he knew that was what Joel liked”, she reveals.
The case
The child was hit in the face as he prepared to sleep in his room, located on the first floor of the house.
According to the complaint, former military police officer Eraldo Menezes de Souza and lieutenant Alexinaldo Santana Souza were involved in the action. The accused are responsible for triple homicide for a base, futile reason and for making it impossible for the victim to defend themselves. The agency’s accusation will be supported by the jury by prosecutor Ariomar José Figueiredo.
According to the state Public Prosecutor’s Office, the defendants, in joint action and in an alleged police investigation, entered Rua Aurelino Silva, in the Northeast neighborhood of Amaralina, firing several firearms, which resulted in Joel’s death.
