GUILTY PORTUGAL - Valentina Fonseca, 9, found deceased, Peniche, 7 May 2020 *father, stepmother arrested*

[bancam]

I’ve been wondering about this, and checking online news recently for updates, as I had assumed a trial date would be close. So yes, big thanks @Lusitana for keeping us all updated.

The testimony of the boy (Valentina’s stepbrother) seems to be favoring his mother’s version of events, yes? It seems that what he saw is not consistent with what Valentina’s father is claiming...

"Began to foam from the mouth": The account of Márcia's son who watched Valentina's agony

IMO they are both monsters, regardless.

 

[Lusitana]

I’ve been wondering about this, and checking online news recently for updates, as I had assumed a trial date would be close. So yes, big thanks @Lusitana for keeping us all updated.

The testimony of the boy (Valentina’s stepbrother) seems to be favoring his mother’s version of events, yes? It seems that what he saw is not consistent with what Valentina’s father is claiming...

"Began to foam from the mouth": The account of Márcia's son who watched Valentina's agony

IMO they are both monsters, regardless.

Yeah, I think the stepmother's version seems to make more sense. The stuff she says he told her actually sound real and sound like something someone like Sandro would say: "she's my daughter", as in "you don't get a say in this, she's MY daughter".

Unfortunately, I'm having a really hard time believing what her mother says either. I highly doubt Valentina loveeeeeeeeeeed going to her father's house, I highly doubt she ever referred to her stepmother as "my Márcia". I'm sure she loved to spend time with her little sisters though, and it seems like Valentina and the stepmother's son were actually close. I can't stop thinking about that poor boy.

And I just can't believe this was the first serious incident. I just can't believe her father never laid an hand on her before this tragedy. Nope, no way.

He didn't cry or showed any emotion, she cried and referred to Valentina as "menina" which translates to "little girl", she also said "her little face". So, it's hard to believe the father. It really is. Do I think they were both involved and that both somehow contributed to Valentina's death? Yes, no doubt. But I also believe it was the father who actually killed her.

 

[Lusitana]

Apparently, poor Valentina wasn't even actually living with her mother before she was sent to her father's house. Her mother left her with a "babysitter" and moved to another city with her boyfriend.

Valentina was left to live with a babysitter, so her mother could start a new romantic relationship

The son of Valentina's stepmother testified that he woke up to the sound of her father slapping her. "It was about ten slaps. He was telling her that she was only capable of doing bad things and thinking about crap."

From his bedroom, he saw that Sandro was hitting the child and that his mother was telling him to stop. "He said: she's my daughter, I do whatever I want to. My mother wanted to ask for help but he didn't let her. He said she would lose her children."

Valentina fell and shortly after, the witness heard his mother asking the child if she was okay and no one answered. "My mom asked if he wanted her to call INEM [911], but Sandro [Valentina's father] wouldn't let her. After that blow to the head, Valentina never said anything again. Sandro took her to the kitchen for her to get some air."

The couple left the child on the sofa and covered her with a blanket. "My mother told me to not tell anyone, otherwise I would lose her and my sisters."

The boy confirmed that the defendants left the home to buy milk for his baby sister, and that was when he saw Valentina "foaming at the mouth."

He called his stepfather to let him know and "they arrived in five minutes."

Valentina's "stepbrother" confirms his mother's version of the events that caused her death

 

[Lusitana]

Mother says Valentina was happy with her father

"When she started going to her father's house every weekend, she was happy. She said that he was her father and that she had two mothers now. She said that Márcia [the stepmother] did not treat her any differently than her siblings. Valentina never complained about her father or Márcia."

In March, during quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Valentina moved to her father's house.

"It was my idea. I was working and in contact with people and that wasn't safe for my daughter to be moving around [her house and her father's house]" she said.

When asked if she spoke to her daughter every day, she said no, because "Valentina didn't like to talk on the phone".

"I texted Márcia every week, sometimes two or three times a week", she said. On Mother's Day, the stepmother called her so Valentina could talk to her and that was the last time she ever spoke to her daughter. "She was really happy. Her last words were: 'okay mom, you're annoying, I love you".

The mother also stated that no one ver told her anything about the alleged suspected sexual abuse the child might have been suffering.

 

[Lusitana]

Deleted by me, double post. My bad!

 

[Lusitana]

Stepmother says in court that Valentina said she was sexually abused

 

[Lusitana]

Valentina's father sentenced to the maximum sentence. Stepmother sentenced to 18 years and nine months

The father got the maximum you can get for any crime in Portugal: 25 years, while the stepmother got 18 years and 9 months.

 

[Mind your biscuits]

The state fined them both for the cost of the search too!
See the above article posted by @Lusitana

 

[Lusitana]

The state fined them both for the cost of the search too!
See the above article posted by @Lusitana

Yep, not sure how they are going to pay that though...

 

[JerseyGirl]

Tragic Valentina’s murder: father and step-mother receive long jail terms - Portugal Resident

Child murderers Sandro and Márcia Bernardo sent to jail for 25 years and 18 years and nine months respectively.

www.portugalresident.com

Sandro received 22 years for aggravated murder, 18 months for the crimes of desecrating a corpse, nine months for the ‘simulation of murder’ and three years for domestic violence.

Márcia Bernardo was condemned to 18 years and nine months for ‘aggravated murder by omission’ and for the ‘desecration of a corpse’.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Stepmother who watched telly while child lay dying sees 18 year jail term halved - Portugal Resident

Stepmother who watched television while partner's daughter lay dying on sofa sees appeal court halve her 18 year jail term.

www.portugalresident.com

Father Sandro Bernardo and his partner Márcia Monteiro were only jailed seven months ago, for 25 and 18 years respectively (click here).

Now, Márcia 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.