Woman begged man accused of her murder to seek psychiatric help, court hears
Olivia Kelleher
A young woman who was strangled to death in a flat in Cork 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 Miller arrived in Ireland to be reunited with Bruna.
Bruna (28) had moved to this country 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.
On Tuesday, the jury heard transcripts of recordings Bruna had made on her phone of conversations between her and Miller. Five of the recordings were from December 17th, 2022, whilst the sixth occurred on December 20th, 2022.
In one exchange on December 20th, Bruna said that Miller 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 Miller was 30 years old and needed to “grow up.”
Bruna said that Miller 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?”
Bruna 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 Bruna pledged to pay for Miller’s plane ticket home to Brazil. Miller then accused her of despising him and stated that they had been “a family” and that she had liked it.
Bruna 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 that her life wouldn’t stop because their relationship hadn’t worked out and insisted that she was “already moving on.”
Bruna said that it was “tiring” to listen to Miller 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 Miller that he was a “handsome” man and that he could make friends in this country.
Bruna said that she had walked on egg shells 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 days 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.”
Bruna stressed that it their roles were reversed she “wouldn’t be blackmailing the other person.”
Miller 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.”
Meanwhile, during the five recorded exchanges between the pair on December 17th, Bruna 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 Miller that he needed to go to see a psychiatrist, engage in therapy and take his medication. Bruna insisted that they were bad for each other and that there were other people who could assist him.
Bruna said that Miller 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 Miller 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 Miller seemed to be unable to handle being told ‘no.’
Miller accused Bruna of promising him that “everything would be wonderful’ in Ireland. Bruna replied that she knew how to be alone whilst Miller struggled with it. She said that if he moved back to Brazil he would have the support of his family.
Miller said that she didn’t understand what he was going through as “no one ever did what you (Bruna) did to me.”
Bruna said that she would have “carry the guilt” for the rest of her life for what she had done to Miller. Bruna again stressed that Miller 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.
Miller stated that it was “easy to sort out the lives of other people.” Bruna said that that Miller was “making psychological terror” because she had cheated on him and didn’t want him anymore.
Miller admitted that he felt “hate” because Bruna had a date with a person she wanted to meet. Bruna said that all she wanted was for Miller 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.
Miller 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 Bruna died of injuries consistent with manual strangulation.
Bruna also suffered over sixty external and internal injuries to her forehead, scalp, hands, arms and lower limbs. The trial will continue on Wednesday before a jury of seven women and five men.
