A young woman who was strangled to death in a flat in Cork city begged the man accused of her murder to seek urgent psychiatric help amid his struggle to cope with the breakdown of their relationship, a court has heard.
Miller Pacheco, 32, of Formiga in Brazil is on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork. He has denied murdering Bruna Fonseca on New Year's Day, 2023 at his flat in Liberty Street in the city.
The pair had been a couple for five years. However, they broke up in November 2022 just days after Mr Pacheco arrived in Ireland to be reunited with Ms Fonseca.
Bruna Fonseca, 28, had moved to Ireland from her native Brazil in September 2022 and was working at a hospital. The university graduate, who was a qualified librarian, was also attending English classes in Cork.
Phone conversations
In court the jury heard transcripts of recordings Ms Fonseca had made on her phone of conversations between her and Mr Pacheco. Five of the recordings were from 17 December 2022, whilst the sixth occurred on 20 December 2022.
In one exchange on 20 December Ms Fonseca said that Mr Pacheco was "obsessed with sadness" whilst accusing him of always trying to manipulate her. She said he needed to see a doctor because the love he felt for her was "sick". She stressed that he was 30 years old and needed to "grow up".
She said that he required treatment stating, "otherwise every relationship you have will be this way". She urged him to realise that "there is not only Bruna on earth".
"I want to be single and you won’t let me. What is the other path? Go to a convent? Become a nun?"
Ms Fonseca told him that she would have done things differently if she could whilst pleading with him to "go to a doctor, go to a psychiatrist".
At one point in the lengthy conversation, she pledged to pay for his plane ticket home to Brazil. He then accused her of despising him and stated that they had been "a family" and that she had liked it.
Ms Fonseca said that she "made a mistake" but that it would also be an error to stay with him as the "feelings" were not there. She said that her life would not stop because their relationship had not worked out and insisted that she was "already moving on".
She said that it was "tiring" to listen to him as he was complaining but not doing anything to change his circumstances. She insisted it was time for him "to face reality and to stop playing the victim".
She told him that he was a "handsome" man and that he could make friends in this country.
Ms Fonseca said that she had walked on eggshells during their previous eight-month break-up in Brazil. She said that during their previous split, she was afraid that if she did not reply to his texts he would "kill himself".
"I cannot live like this. It is wrong. The smallest sign it is not going to work out, you say, 'I am going to kill myself’. I have to be perfect 24 hours a day. During the eight months (split) I would only be talking to you because I would believe that if I did not talk to you, you would not wake up the next morning."
She stressed that it their roles were reversed she "wouldn’t be blackmailing the other person".
Mr Pacheco asked her to get with him "one last time" before he left Ireland to go home to Brazil. She said that when he received treatment, he would realise how much he had humiliated himself "for crumbs".
"I am telling you to get treatment. Please let me go, let me go, let me go."
'You don't want to accept that it is over'
Meanwhile, during the five recorded exchanges between the pair on 17 December, Ms Fonseca urged her ex-boyfriend to take steps to improve his life following their split. She told him that he would 'recover' but that he would "have to want it".
She told him that he needed to go to see a psychiatrist, engage in therapy and take his medication. She insisted that they were bad for each other and that there were other people who could assist him.
She said that he was not absorbing the finality of their split.
"You (Miller) don’t want to accept that it is over. You will find someone else who will value you."
She said that he had to "bounce back" in life "solely and exclusively" for himself and not in the hope that she would take him back. She indicated that he seemed to be unable to handle being told ‘no'.
Mr Pacheco accused her of promising him that "everything would be wonderful" in Ireland. She replied that she knew how to be alone while he struggled with it. She said that if he moved back to Brazil he would have the support of his family.
He said that she did not understand what he was going through as "no one ever did what you (Bruna) did to me".
Ms Fonseca said that she would have to "carry the guilt" for the rest of her life for what she had done to him. She again stressed that he needed a qualified person to assist him on his road to recovery.
"Miller go look for help. For the love of God. You are whining and playing the victim. I destroyed you but do you want to continue to destroy yourself?"
She said that they were "glued to each other" and that what was occurring was "not healthy".
He stated that it was "easy to sort out the lives of other people". She said that he was "making psychological terror" because she had cheated on him and didn’t want him anymore.
He admitted that he felt "hate" because she had a date with a person she wanted to meet. She said that all she wanted was for him to be well.
He insisted that she was being fake and accused her of not thinking of his well-being when she cheated on him.
He asked her "not to leave" him alone and said that they could be friends. He urged her not to abandon him. She said that she couldn’t be friends with someone who was so emotionally attached to her.
The jury previously heard evidence from Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster. She stated that Ms Fonseca died of injuries consistent with manual strangulation. She also suffered over sixty external and internal injuries to her forehead, scalp, hands, arms and lower limbs.
The trial will continue tomorrow before a jury of seven women and five men.
