Joel case: lieutenant acquitted and former PM convicted
Former police officer Eraldo Menezes de Souza was sentenced to 13 years and 4 months in prison for the death of Joel, a boy victim of a stray bullet aged 10, in Salvador. Police officer Alexinaldo Santana Souza was acquitted of the crime.
The boy died at the age of 10, inside his home, during a police raid in the neighborhood where he lived, in the Northeast of Amaralina, in 2010.
Alexinaldo Santana Souza and Eraldo Menezes de Souza were tried, this Tuesday (7), at the Ruy Barbosa Forum, in the capital of Bahia. The popular jury began on Monday (6). [Relembre caso ao final da reportagem]
Mirian Conceição, Joel’s mother, in an interview with TV Bahia, said she felt relieved with Eraldo’s conviction, and informed that the Public Ministry of Bahia (MP-BA) will appeal the decision.
- Prosecution witnesses: two neighbors, the victim’s sister, Jessica Caroline, and the boy’s father Joel Castro, Mestre Ninha;
- Defense witnesses: all military police officers.
What the defendants said on the first day of the popular jury
Joel case: defense of defendants claims that assistance was provided to family after fatality
The two defendants cried during their testimonies. Eraldo Menezes de Souza, accused of shooting the boy, said:
- I didn’t want to shoot the boy;
- he was shooting at suspects, when he slipped with the gun pointed upwards and “accidentally” pressed the trigger;
- the shot hit the awning and hit the window where Joel was.
When asked if he saw the boy’s body, he cried and said that he only found out about the child’s death after leaving the scene of the confrontation.
Alexinaldo Santana Souza, lieutenant who commanded the police action, said that:
- he was ahead of Eraldo Menezes and was not responsible for the shooting made by the former police officer;
- found a pistol next to Joel’s house and presented it to the police station;
- I only found out that the child was shot at the end of the operation;
- believed that the shot had been fired by police officers with the gun found next to the house.
During his testimony, Alexinaldo also cried a lot and said that he had two children similar in age to Joel at the time of the incident, and that this made him suffer during the 13 years he was responsible for the boy’s death.
Joel da Conceição de Castro was 10 years old at the time of the incident. In addition to studying, he practiced capoeira and was scheduled to travel to Italy, where he would represent Brazil in cultural events.
“My son had a bright future ahead of him, but they [os réus] They didn’t give my son the opportunity to grow up”, said the victim’s father, capoeirista Mestre Ninha.
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