Footballer whose lover was 'killed and fed to dogs' resumes his career
Goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza signs for new club after serving just seven years of a 22-year sentence
A Brazilian goalkeeper jailed for the murder of a former girlfriend has been released and is set to resume his football career.
Former Flamengo and Atletico Mineiro keeper Bruno Fernandes de Souza, once tipped to represent his country, has reportedly signed for second division club Boa Esporte after serving seven years of a 22-year sentence for the kidnap and murder of Eliza Samudio, whose body was reportedly fed to his dogs.
The "astounding" story is "part OJ Simpson trial, part Saw, part lurid reflection on the nature of impunity, celebrity and the inadequacies of a legal system", says Gabrielle Marcotti in The Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It began in June 2009 when Bruno met Samudio, a 25-year-old model, and she became pregnant. Bruno attempted to intimidate her into having an abortion but she refused. She gave birth in 2010 but soon afterwards disappeared.
"A month later it emerged that Bruno – with the help of a number of people, including his wife, another former lover and a teenage cousin – had lured Samudio to his home. She was strangled to death, her body was dismembered and fed to his rottweiler dogs," reports Marcotti.
Bruno was sentenced to 22 years in jail. It was, he says, "an especially macabre and extreme version of the well-worn trope of a gifted and successful athlete throwing it all away due to a cocktail of ignorance, selfishness, immorality and the sense of omnipotence only fame and adulation can provide".
But the story has taken a twist with the news that Bruno has now been released on appeal, and will, at the age of 32, resume his career.
"Unsurprisingly, there has been an outcry, with one of their lead sponsors announcing they are ending their relationship with the club," says Marcotti, while the Daily Mirror reports that social media campaigns and petitions have been launched in protest at the move.
But for many Brazilians the main problem appears to be that Bruno is "not quite match fit", marvels Barney Ronay in The Guardian.
"What are we supposed to make of all this? Even football's slightly wonky register of values seems to have lost all sense of scale here," he writes.
"It seems baffling that while his appeal is in train Bruno should be out there playing football, apparently without resistance. A while back Fifa threatened the Brazilian FA with fines if its players wore T-shirts with slogans like I Belong To Jesus, or 100% Jesus or I Really Honestly Like Jesus. It seems clear the least they can do now is suggest very strongly that the world's most unwelcome late-blooming homicidal goalkeeper shouldn't be anywhere near a football pitch while justice is served."
Even more shocking is the fact that Bruno appears to be unrepentant, says Daniel Edwards of Goal.com. Bruno claims to have "paid dearly" and undergone a "learning experience" in jail.
"The story of Bruno is one of arrogance and impunity. Back in 2010, the goalkeeper appeared to believe that his status as a football rock star exempted him from following the laws and morality society needs to function in harmony, brutally killing an ex-lover because she threatened his perfect world with a dose of reality. His release after serving less than a third of his sentence is shameful, but even more aberrant is the decision to give him a second chance on the pitch when Eliza's blood remains on his gloved hands."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Drugmakers paid pharmacy benefit managers to avoid restricting opioid prescriptions
Under the radar The middlemen and gatekeepers of insurance coverage have been pocketing money in exchange for working with Big Pharma
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
The week's best photos
In Pictures A cyclone's aftermath, a fearless leap, and more
By Anahi Valenzuela, The Week US Published
-
The Imaginary Institution of India: a 'compelling' exhibition
The Week Recommends 'Vibrant' show at the Barbican examines how political upheaval stimulated Indian art
By The Week UK Published
-
Pelé obituary: remembering the greatest footballer of all time
In the Spotlight The Brazilian footballer, who died aged 82, was blessed with extraordinary skill in every aspect of the game
By The Week Staff Published
-
Iconic soccer legend Pelé dead at 82
Speed Read
By Rafi Schwartz Published
-
Neymar’s World Cup: goals, sublime skills and annoying play-acting
Speed Read The brilliant Brazilian continues to divide opinion across the football world
By The Week Staff Published
-
World Cup group E: Brazil vs. Costa Rica team news, kick-off time and TV channel
The Week Recommends Neymar has returned to training and should start for Brazil
By The Week Staff Published
-
World Cup group E: Brazil and Switzerland qualify
Speed Read Group E final standings and results
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Rio's Olympic stadiums left in disrepair
In Depth Iconic Maracana football stadium abandoned and vandalised, while murky water fills the aquatics centre
By The Week Staff Published
-
Tragedy strikes Chapecoense – the Leicester City of Brazil
In Depth Only three players are thought to have survived after plane carrying team to biggest game in its history crashes in Colombia
By The Week Staff Published
-
Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City hire private jet for Brazil stars
Speed Read Coutinho, Firmino, Willian and others should be back with their clubs in Europe a day earlier than expected after internationals
By The Week Staff Published