Santoro to face justice in Brazil
Brazilian police were yesterday preparing to fly to Australia to meet Sydney detectives investigating the death of Cecilia Haddad as they prepare their case against the man charged with her murder (above). Brazilian businesswoman Ms Haddad’s body was found in the Lane Cove River in Sydney’s north in late April.
BRAZILIAN police were yesterday preparing to fly to Australia to meet Sydney detectives investigating the death of Cecilia Haddad as they prepare their case against the man charged with her murder.
Brazilian businesswoman Ms Haddad’s body was found in the Lane Cove River in Sydney’s north in late April.
Marcelo Santoro, her former boyfriend, was captured yesterday after a manhunt by Rio de Janeiro police.
The 40-year-old had been hiding at an apartment belonging to a family member in the Botafogo district of the Brazilian city.
He gave himself up without resistance and reportedly told officers when arrested: “I’ve ended my life.”
Dr Fabio Cardoso, the police chief leading the investigation, said Santoro was displaying “erratic behaviour”.
He said: “He is swinging between normality and depression, when he starts crying. It’s a sign that points to something that he has in his head. He’s calm, then there’s the issue of him crying.
“I had a quick conversation with him. He seemed surprised, really surprised, about the fact we had managed to secure an arrest warrant for him based on our own investigations.
“He fled Australia believing that in Brazil nothing would happen to him because he couldn’t be extradited.”
He said Rio’s police would be making another attempt to contact Australian police this week to request the transfer of the case to Brazil.
Rio’s homicide division began their own investigation into Ms Haddad’s death after being approached by members of her family days after her body was found in Sydney’s Lane Cove river on April 29.
Santoro had been considered a fugitive since going into hiding after a Rio de Janeiro judge accepted a charge of murder against him and issued a warrant for his arrest on Thursday night.
Officers swooped on the apartment where Santoro had been hiding yesterday.
Dr Cardoso revealed officers searched the same apartment where Santoro was found the previous day, but family members claimed they had no idea where he was.
Santoro will stay at the police station for the next few days for interrogation “at all hours of the day and night”.
If found guilty of the charge of femicide, Santoro could be sentenced to between 20 and 30 years in jail.