Jury begin deliberations in trial of man accused of murdering Bruna Fonseca

Miller Pacheco, 32, denies the murder of his former girlfriend, 28-year-old Bruna Fonseca, at his apartment at Liberty St in Cork

Miller Pacheco, aged 32, denies the murder of his former girlfriend, 28-year-old Bruna Fonseca, at his apartment at Liberty St, Cork, on January 1, 2023. File picture Dan Linehan

The seven women and five men of the jury in the trial of a 32-year-old man accused of murdering his former girlfriend in Cork on New Year’s Day 2023 commenced their deliberations shortly before 3pm on Thursday.

The prosecution claims that Miller Pacheco murdered 28-year-old Bruna Fonseca because he was thinking, “if I can’t have her, no one can have her.” 

The defence said there was absolutely no evidence of the accused thinking that if he could not have the young woman, then nobody could.

Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford addressed the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Thursday on the legal principles they must use in the course of their deliberations and summarised evidence that they heard in the course of the trial, which is into its ninth day.

Mr Pacheco, aged 32, denies the murder of his former girlfriend, 28-year-old Bruna Fonseca, at his apartment at Liberty St, Cork, on January 1, 2023.

Ms Justice Lankford said that on this single count of murder, three verdicts are possible: Not guilty of murder; guilty of murder; or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

 Bernard Condon, prosecuting, said the accused intended to kill her and that “it was the intention for some time, certainly it was on his agenda and was on his list".

He said that anger and jealousy led Mr Pacheco to kill Ms Fonseca and that from conversations he had with others, as well as internet searches which included one referencing how to kill in three seconds, what happened on January 1, 2023, “was a train coming down the track through December 17th and 18th (2022)".

 Ray Boland, defending, said: “He seems to be a very tightly wound individual… He certainly seems to feel things deeply. There is absolutely no history of violence in the relationship in the previous six years.” 

Mr Boland asked the jury to consider Ms Fonseca's words to Mr Pacheco when she asked in exasperation if he needed to see her having sex with another person in order to get it into his head that her relationship with him was over. 

Mr Boland said he made no criticism of the late Ms Fonseca when he said that kissing someone at the New Year’s party in front of Mr Fonseca was something new and that the accused was “in genuine psychic turmoil”.

He said that later that morning, Mr Pacheco held her around the neck from behind with his arm to stop her hitting him. 

“He could not see her face and could not have seen the difficulty she was in… How long does it take — and this is a morbid question — for the person to die? Did he miscalculate in holding her until she is quiet?” 

Mr Boland repeated the explanation that Mr Pacheco gave to gardaí, that, “when she hit me I got lost in myself". 

Mr Boland said that was descriptive of being overtaken by the situation in such a way that he could not control himself.