Gislayne Silva de Deus’ father was murdered over 20 years ago. His daughter wants to catch the perpetrator on her own – now she has succeeded.
Boa Vista – Gislayne Silva de Deus and her four sisters grew up in Brazil without their father after the crime. The now 36-year-old became a lawyer, but the murder case surrounding her father didn’t let her go. Although the perpetrator was sentenced to prison at the time, he fled from justice.
Father is murdered over 20 years ago – daughter becomes a police officer to catch murderers on her own
According to the Brazilian newspaper G1 The murder took place in 1999 in the city of Boa Vista. Gislayne Silva de Deus was only nine years old at the time. Her father got into an argument because he owed a man 150 Brazilian reals. That would correspond to around 24 euros today. The argument escalated and a fatal shot ensued.
The perpetrator took the victim to the hospital, but fled shortly afterwards. Although he was sentenced to twelve years in prison for murder by a court in 2013, he was only caught many years later – and by the victim’s eldest daughter. This was reported by the Brazilian broadcaster Jornal Nacional.
Gislayne Silva de Deus initially studied law and worked as a lawyer. She later decided to pursue a career in law enforcement and joined the Criminal Investigation Department in the Brazilian state of Roraima in 2022. “With the police, I not only wanted to ensure justice, but also to help other people who had experienced the same suffering as me,” she told the newspaper G1. Her wish was to catch her father’s murderer. But time was of the essence, because unlike in Germany, the statute of limitations for murder in Brazil is 20 years after conviction.
“Never asked for forgiveness” – Daughter catches her father’s murderer
It wasn’t until the summer of this year that she was assigned to the homicide squad. She gathered information about the whereabouts of the man who killed her father. At the end of September, she and her team finally managed to get her arrested in Boa Vista. The now 60-year-old confessed to murder investigators that he had no intention of committing the crime at the time. “But at no point did he ask for forgiveness or anything like that,” said Gislayne Silva de Deus.
At his detention hearing on Thursday (September 26), his prison sentence was confirmed again. The perpetrator has now started his twelve-year prison sentence. “This moment brought me and my family enormous peace,” Gislayne told Silva de Deus G1. “This won’t bring our father back, but he will serve the sentence he should have served many years ago.”
In Germany too, many crimes remain unsolved even after years. Some cases, such as that of a twelve-year-old girl, are reopened in the ZDF program Aktenzeichen XY. New evidence could also bring a breakthrough in a murder case that has been unsolved for 30 years. (kas)
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