2023-10-10 23:44:14
The press secretary of former councilor Fernanda Gonçalves Chaves was on board the councilor’s car, but was not hit
The Judge of the 4th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro held, this Wednesday (10), the first hearing in the process in which former firefighter Maxwell Simões Correa was accused of involvement in the death of councilwoman Marielle Franco and driver Anderson Gomes. In addition to Maxwell, former PMs Ronnie Lessa and Elcio Queiroz, who are in prison, are suspected of the crime.
The former firefighter’s involvement emerged in Elcio Queiroz’s plea bargain. Maxwell’s preventive detention was ordered by judge Gustavo Kalil, based on evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor’s Office that pointed to his direct connection, before, during and after the murders. Maxwell is in a federal prison in Brasília and participated in the hearing remotely.
From the prison in Brasília, Elcio Queiroz gave his testimony, giving an account of the entire dynamics of the murder and the measures they took to get rid of the Cobalt car and any other incriminating evidence for the double homicide.
Queiroz said that on the day of the crime, on March 14, 2018, he was invited by Ronnie Lessa to drive a car and that the two met at the ex-PM’s condominium, in Barra da Tijuca. Elcio claimed not to know that he would participate in the murders. In his opinion, Ronnie invited him because he lacked confidence in Maxwell to be the driver.
According to the statement, he and Ronnie went to meet Maxwell, to whom they gave their cell phones so as not to be tracked and from whom they received the Cobalt. They then went to Lapa, where they waited for councilor Marielle Franco to leave a meeting at Casa das Pretas. The crime took place in Estácio, where the criminals matched Marielle’s car. With machine gun bursts, Ronnie Lessa hit Marielle and Anderson, according to Elcio Queiroz.
Former councilor Fernanda Gonçalves Chaves’ press secretary was aboard the councilor’s car, but was not hit by the shots.
According to the statement, the criminals abandoned the car outside Ronnie Lessa’s mother’s house and went to meet Maxwell at a bar in Barra da Tijuca.
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According to the witness, the day after the crime, the three began to work out a way to get rid of the car. First, they replaced the plates that were chopped up and the pieces thrown onto the railway line in Quintino, in the north of Rio. The car was handed over to a mechanic from Rocha Miranda, known by the nickname Orelha, with the recommendation that it be dismantled.
According to Queiroz, when he suspected he would be arrested, he asked Ronnie Lessa to support his family financially. Ronnie promised that this support would come from Maxwell. In the first month, Maxwell fulfilled his promise, but then the money dwindled until he was suspended completely.
Witnesses for the prosecution
The hearing brought together testimonies from prosecution witnesses. It started with Marielle’s widow, Mônica Benício, who said she did not know if her partner received threats for her role in politics.
Ágatha Reis, Anderson’s wife, said that her husband had been working with the then councilor for two months and never commented on concerns about safety.
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Fernanda Gonçalves was the third witness and gave an account of her day-to-day coexistence with the parliamentarian. They both lived nearby in Tijuca and sometimes went to and from work together. On the day of the crime, she was sitting next to Marielle in the back seat of the vehicle. Fernanda heard machine gun fire and was hit by glass shards in the face, but did not see where it came from. Upon realizing that Marielle and Anderson had been hit, she got out of the car and was helped by pedestrians.
The press secretary said that the councilor never mentioned threats or expressed concern for her safety. The information is from Agência Brasil.
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