The stepmother who was described as watching television while the daughter of her partner lay dying on the sofa has seen an appeal court halve her 18 year jail term.
The appalling killing of Valentina Fonseca is still fresh in peopleâs memories (click here).
Father Sandro Bernardo and his partner MĂĄrcia Monteiro were only jailed seven months ago, for 25 and 18 years respectively (click here).
Now, MĂĄrcia has seen that sentence halved, which essentially means she can look forward to parole in just over four years time.
Parole for a woman complicit in the murder of a child; a woman who helped to dispose of the body and went along with the pretence that nine year old Valentina had left the house in her pyjamas while everyone lay sleeping.
Initially found guilty of âqualified murder by omissionâ and the desecration of a corpse, MĂĄrcia Monteiro has now been considered ânot to have participated in the agressionsâ that caused Valentina to die from a brain hemorrhage, nor to have given them her âconsent.âÂ
Coimbra appeal court judges nonetheless observed that she was the only person in the house who could have intervened âin the sense of avoidingâ the death of the child – but she didnât.
Tabloid Correio da ManhĂŁ today makes no bones of the situation
A column alongside the news story says: âThe Appeal Court now says it was not qualified murder but simple murder. That MĂĄrcia acted by omission and that, instead of 18 years in jail, she should only spend nine. Serving â of her sentence (this means), MĂĄrcia will only have to spend six years behind bars. A year and a half has already gone by. In a little more than four more she will be freeâ.
But the emotive column by journalist TĂąnia Laranjo – who covered the horror from start to finish – suggests MĂĄrcia will actually never be free, as she is incapable of showing remorse.
The Coimbra judges recognised that Sandro Bernardo hasnât been able to show remorse. They reduced his 25 year sentence by only one year.
But in MĂĄrciaâs case, their consideration was that the 39-year-old had âa lower intensity in the relationship of kinshipâ with Valentina.Â
The court understood that Ms Monteiro had “said several times to her partner to stop with the aggressions and never participated in the mistreatment” – something clearly not taken on board by the first panel of judges.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
