Bruna Fonseca’s life and death: Inside the Cork murder trial

Court reporter Liam Heylin discusses the murder trial that exposed obsession, coercive control and the killing of Bruna Fonseca

Bruna Fonseca was killed in January 2023. 

In 2022, 28-year-old Brazilian librarian Bruna Fonseca fulfilled a lifelong dream when she travelled to Ireland.

She attended English classes in Cork, sent money home from her work as a hospital cleaner, and embarked on a new relationship with a fellow student when her life was brutally cut short by Miller Pacheco — an obsessive ex-boyfriend who refused to accept that their relationship was over.

Last week, Pacheco was convicted of her murder, despite claiming self-defence. 

Evidence of his obsession, his refusal to let her move on, and his actions in the early hours of January 1, 2023, proved overwhelming, with the jury reaching a unanimous verdict after just over an hour of deliberation.

Bruna’s family and friends paid tribute to her after the trial, with her cousin Marcela Fonseca highlighting the injustice of her death.

“A man decides to take someone's life. And the question that remains is: how little is our life worth? A life that was taken because a woman was not allowed to move on, to choose, to love, to live her own life."

Irish Examiner court reporter Liam Heylin covered the trial. He’s the guest on today’s episode of the Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast.