The third day of the trial of pastor and former deputy Flordelis dos Santos de Souza, accused of the death of her husband, Pastor Anderson do Carmo, ended in turmoil and almost led to the dissolution of the jury, this fourththursday (9).
The projection of an excerpt from the book Flordelis Plan: bible, children and bloodby journalist Vera Araújo, provoked a revolt in the defense, which demanded that the author be summoned to confirm whether the lawyer Janira Rocha, who defends Flordelis, had manipulated family witnesses, as an excerpt from the work implied.
If the journalist was not called to testify, lawyer Rodrigo Faucz threatened, in front of Judge Nearis Arce, to withdraw from the trial, which could lead to the dissolution of the jury. The attitude generated an interruption of more than two hours in the work.
The magistrate refused to summon Vera Araújo and imposed a fine of 15 minimum wages on each of the lawyers, if they abandoned the trial, which led the defense to correct its speech and go back, after a closed-door meeting. Finally, the judge classified the episode as a misunderstanding and scheduled the continuation of the trial for this morning. Thursdaythursday (10).
Turmoil
The riot took place shortly before the end of the testimony of Raquel dos Passos Silva, biological daughter of Carlos Ubiraci, Flordelis’ affective son, and granddaughter of the former deputy. Listed as a witness for the prosecution, Raquel reported the differences in treatment given to a part of the family, divided between the most and the least privileged.
At one point, when she was talking about the participation of the psychologist Paula Barros, known as Paula do Vôlei, in the unification of the versions of the residents of the house about Anderson’s death, the Public Ministry (MP) projected a page from the book by journalist Vera Araújo , suggesting that the lawyer Janira participated in the instruction and manipulation of witnesses, which is illegal.
“The lawyer says that, with the help of Paula do Vôlei, she used her own life experience to persuade some of Flordelis’ daughters to make public the attacks allegedly promoted by the pastor. To create empathy, the lawyer approached the matter with them revealing that she had been abused by her grandfather at age 8”, cites the book.
That was all it took for Janira to rise up and vehemently deny that she had, at any time, manipulated witnesses, which generated revolt in the other defense lawyers, in solidarity.
Depositions
Before her, the first statement was by Luana Rangel Pimenta. She is married to the former councilor of São Gonçalo Wagner Pimenta, known as Misael, Flordelis’ adopted son. Luana told the jurors about the poisoning attempts of which Anderson had already been a victim. She said she had already seen Flordelis put substances in Anderson’s juice, claiming it was a way for him to take the medicine prescribed by doctors.
For more than two hours, Luana revealed information about the family and about the day of the murder, in June 2019. She stated that she had no doubt that her mother-in-law was responsible for the murder and that, in the days following the death, the relatives they tried to get away from Flordelis out of fear.
The second to testify, as an informant, was Daniel, Flordelis’ adopted son. By videoconference, he was moved to talk about Anderson and retrace the events of the day of the murder. He said he was inside his room when he heard the shots.
Frightened, he went to see what had happened and found his mother screaming that her husband had been killed.
Daniel, who said he only found out he was adopted at the police station after the pastor’s death, said he had already heard a plan to kill Anderson, but that the idea had not been carried out.
The affectionate daughter Daiane de Freitas, the third prosecution witness to testify, recalled that Pastor Anderson do Carmo always spoke well of his wife, even in church, to everyone, always with great affection, with much love. To his children, he would say: “Your mother, even if she is wrong, she is right”. According to his affective daughter, he always put Flordelis above everything else.
Since MondayOn Friday (7), nine prosecution witnesses were heard: delegates Bárbara Lomba and Allan Duarte, Regiane Ramos, inspector Tiago Vaz, the children of Flordelis Alexsander Mendes, called Luan, Wagner Pimenta, known as Misael, Daniel de Souza and Daiane de Freitas and daughter-in-law Luana Pimenta, in addition to Raquel.
