Man accused of murdering Bruna Fonseca further remanded in custody

Case adjourned to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions

Bruna Fonseca had come to Cork in September and had been working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital.

Another two-week adjournment was granted in the case against the 29-year-old man accused of murdering young Brazilian woman Bruna Fonseca in Cork on New Year’s Day.

The accused man appeared by video link from Cork prison at Cork District Court.

Miller Pacheco is charged with the murder of Bruna Fonseca, 28, at Liberty Street, Cork on January 1 contrary to Common Law.

His solicitor Michael Quinlan appeared at Courtroom 1 at the courthouse on Anglesea Street, Cork.

A Portuguese interpreter was not present to translate the brief hearing for the defendant. Judge Joanne Carroll directed that as soon as the interpreter arrived in court they could go to the booth connected to Cork Prison and inform him, with the assistance of Mr Quinlan, what had transpired in court.

Sergeant Gearóid Davis applied for a two-week adjournment to allow time for directions to be obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Judge Carroll acceded to that application and remanded the accused in custody until February 27.

Detective Garda Padraig Harrington of the Bridewell Garda Station gave evidence previously of arresting the defendant, charging and cautioning him. Pacheco made no reply to the charge.

Miller Pacheco is charged with the murder of Bruna Fonseca, 28, at Liberty Street, Cork on January 1. Picture: Dan Linehan

At the first court appearance, there was a defence application that the accused would receive all appropriate medical attention while on remand in Cork Prison.

The late Ms Fonseca was a native of Formiga in Minas Gerais province, northwest of Rio de Janiero, and was a qualified librarian, who had come to Cork in September and had been working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital, where management expressed their sympathies on Ms Fonseca’s death to her family and friends, describing her as “an esteemed colleague” and a “hard and diligent worker”.

The late Ms Fonseca’s remains were taken to her home city of Formiga in the state of Minas Gerais, northwest of Rio de Janiero, and her funeral took place there on January 16 before mourners led by her father, Tadeu José Fonseca, and mother, Marina dos Reis Palhares Fonseca.