Jury acquits Piruinha of murder

Misdemeanor has been under house arrest since 2022

The 3rd Jury Court of Rio de Janeiro acquitted, in a trial on Thursday (25), the criminal José Caruzzo Escafura, known as Piruinha, for the murder of businessman Natalino José do Nascimento Espíndola, in July 2021. They were also tried and Piruinha’s daughter, Monalliza Neves Escafura, and military police officer Jeckeson Lima Pereira were acquitted.

The three were accused of killing Natalino in an ambush, when the businessman was walking along a street in the west zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The accusation was that the Escafura family had lost money with a construction project led by the victim and, therefore, ordered his death.

Piruinha had a preventive arrest warrant since May 2022, but had been serving the court order under house arrest since she had an accident in the bathroom of Casa do Albergado Crispim Valentino, in Benfica, in December of that year.

Source: Agência Brasil