'She came to Ireland to follow her dream, but now that dream has been shattered'
The new year is barely a week old but it is already the worst year of their lives.
Slain Bruna Fonseca’s heartbroken family and friends are still reeling from the circumstances surrounding the Brazilian woman's violent death in Cork city at the weekend, numbed, shocked, their raw grief clearly visible.
The tears flow freely as her cousin, Marcela Fonseca, her niece Maria Fonseca, and her good friend, Julina Souza, recall their now treasured memories of Bruna — simple things like her stressing about not having a Christmas jumper, her excitement after buying a new iPhone — as they plan a memorial for her this weekend at one of her favourite places in Cork, the Lough amenity, and liaise with family in Brazil about bringing her home for burial.
Marcela, 28, who has lived and worked in Cork for over a year, says they are spending a lot of time together, to support each other.
“And the Brazilian community, the Irish people, everyone, has helped us as well. We are so far, far from home and our family, but we feel at home here,” she says.
Last Saturday, as the sun set on the year Bruna, 28, moved from her native Brazil to Ireland to build a new life, she joined close family and friends, and several fellow Brazilians, to ring in the new year in a city pub, full of life and hope, her dreams closer than ever.
But by the time the sun rose on new year’s day, she lay dead in a flat on Liberty Street, her body showing clear signs of a violent death. Marcela says:
She sat with Julina and Maria at the back of a courtroom at Cork District Court on Monday evening, and watched as a man known to Bruna was charged with her murder in the flat on January 1.
What is alleged to have happened will emerge in due course.
Their focus now is on getting Bruna's body home to Brazil. They are liaising with her heartbroken parents, Marina and Tadeu, her older sisters, Izabel and Fernanda, in Formiga, as they plan a funeral.
They are receiving consular support here from both the Brazilian embassy and the Irish authorities.
A native of Formiga in Minas Gerais province, Bruna was a qualified librarian, who had come to Cork last September and had been working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).
She arrived here with her niece, Maria, 18, who finished high school last year and decided to take a year out for adventure, before deciding on what to do next.
Maria says they both spoke to Marcela about her life in Cork, and both decided to travel together to Ireland to start a new life in Cork.
Bruna planned to work full-time, while Maria intended to study English and work part-time. But they also wanted to send money home and use Ireland as a base to explore Europe and beyond.
“I, we, were both excited to start a new life,” Maria says.
They spent the first week after the arrival living with Marcela, who helped them with some initial supports, but within days, and despite an accommodation crisis, Bruna had found somewhere for them to live.
“Bruna was so determined, strong and organised,” Marcela says.
They all click their fingers as they rattle off her achievements in the first week alone — she had found an apartment for them in Blackpool, where she and Maria shared a room, she had landed a job as a contract cleaner at MUH, she had helped source a job for Maria, before she then found larger accommodation for herself on Southern Road near Anglesea St, an apartment for Maria elsewhere, who later found herself a new job at the NRG gym at the River Lee Hotel.
Bruna also helped find an apartment for another person.
Marcela shakes her head in a mix of disbelief and admiration as she explains: “Bruna found a house in one week, despite the accommodation situation, she found a house in one week, and a job, and set up a bank account, had a Leap card, everything was set up — in one week!
“I was like shocked, and said ‘How Bruna? How did you do this?'."
But that was Bruna — determined and strong and ready to do whatever, including working back-to-back cleaning shifts until 2am to make her dreams come true.
Marcela says: “In Brazil, it is very expensive but here she can work and buy whatever she want.
“And in Brazil no, it is so difficult. But here, she was also able to send money and gifts to her parents. Here she lived her dream.
“She was all the time happy here.
“She was hardworking and she liked to go to the city centre for coffee, she was so happy with her life here.
“At the end of this month, she and Maria were planning a trip to Amsterdam and they were really excited for this.
“She is the person with the best heart I ever met in my life.”
Julina recalls meeting Bruna for the first time last September.
“From the first moment, I say, she is such a nice person,” she says.
“She is always helping everybody, at work together, she supported everyone.
“She was so smart and had a remarkable way of communicating or connecting with people.
“She always say yes to everything — let's go do this, let’s go have a drink, she never had a bad moment or a bad time, ever.”
Maria, who travelled with Bruna on the flight to Ireland, who spent those early days with her aunt, and who had to identify her body at the morgue on Sunday, said the last few days have been especially difficult for her.
“I am bad, my head is...,” she says, before tears flow again.
Marcela, who had to break the news of Bruna’s death to her family in Brazil, offers a reassuring word: “But she is so strong.”
Maria has been in contact regularly with home, especially with her mother, Izabela.
In a statement, Izabela describes Bruna as a “sweet, dedicated, extremely responsible and very family-orientated girl” who had a remarkable and special bond with their mother, Marina.
“The affection that the two had was a pleasure to see,” Izabela says.
“Bruna’s loss is taking a toll on us, something we could never imagine going through.
“Talking about Bruna is always a difficult task and now it will be even more difficult without her presence in our lives.
“All family members and friends are afflicted and wanting at least a decent farewell for Bruna, since she has not been with us for over three months.”
Tributes have been pouring in for Bruna and her family, many on social media, since Sunday.
The three young women speak of the wave of support they have felt from both the Brazilian community in Cork and from Irish people here since.
“It is so important for us,” Marcela says.
But they need practical help and support too.
While they liaise with the gardaí, through an appointed garda liaison officer, on the timing of the release of Bruna’s body, they set up a GoFundMe account, today, Tuesday in the hope of raising the required finances to bring her body home to Formiga for burial.
By last night, just a few hours after it was launched, more than €20,000 had been donated.
The women issued a heartfelt ‘thank you’ to everyone who has helped.
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Deirdre Forde, said the killing has shocked and saddened the city.
“On behalf of the people of Cork, I have reached out to Bruna’s family to convey to them how shocked and deeply saddened we are that her life was cut short so brutally,” she said.
“From what I have heard from those who knew her, she was a beautiful soul, and it is a tragic and senseless loss that her family and friends now bear.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with them at this profoundly sad time.”
A book of remembrance has been opened in the MUH chapel, where a black and white photograph of Fonseca has been printed out and placed on a table alongside a flickering white candle.
But a week on from the discovery of her body, her family and friends will gather for a public vigil in her memory at the Lough at 10am on Sunday.
People have been encouraged to wear white, to bring white flowers and candles.
Funny, dynamic and determined, and a big fan of the Netflix series, Emily in Paris, Bruna, her family reveals, had also made plans with Marcela, Julina and Maria, to visit Morocco later this year.
Marcela says: “She said this was her dream. We are still going to do this. This year, we will do it together, with Bruna, in our hearts always.”
They also plan to get a tattoo each of her favourite phrase: ‘You are unforgettable.”
• Donations are now being accepted on the Bruna Fonseca GoFundMe fundraiser.
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