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

[ChatteringBirds]

Valentina's father and stepmother will answer the Judge's questions

Valentina Fonseca's father and stepmother, both suspected of the 9-year-old's death, chose to make statements and answer the questions from the investigating Judge (they obviously have the right to not make any statements). They will most likely stay incarcerated until the trial starts because of the severity of the crimes inflicted on the child, but that will only be confirmed tomorrow around noon.
The suspects arrived at the Court in Leiria, at 10:42 AM today. They arrived in two separate LE vehicles (I doubt they had any contact since their arrest), and a few dozen people waiting for the couple began to run to approach the suspects, shouting insults. The police had to intervene to control the situation.
They will make statements to the Judge separately.

They will make statements to the judge separately. Really, neither is choosing to remain silent? Are they both going to try to blame the other? Or to blame an innocent 3rd party? Let's wait patiently and see if they have souls and just plead guilty.

This case is getting to me more than most somehow.

 

[Lusitana]

They will make statements to the judge separately. Really, neither is choosing to remain silent? Are they both going to try to blame the other? Or to blame an innocent 3rd party? Let's wait patiently and see if they have souls and just plead guilty.

This case is getting to me more than most somehow.

Apparently, the stepmother has been saying that she didn't do anything from day one. The father says he didn't kill Valentina, he just disposed of the body. I saw some news today, just in passing though, that the stepmother was turning on him though so, I guess this is going to get really nasty really soon.
My bet is that the father is choosing to talk because he wants to keep telling his stupid story that makes zero sense. The autopsy completely disproves his story.

 

[Lusitana]

The son of Valentina's stepmother tells everything in Court: "I saw her shaking, foaming and then falling asleep"

Our priority is to protect this boy. He's only 12, he was not Valentina's biological brother, but he was a brother to her. The boy heard Valentina scream in the bathroom around 9 AM. He saw her shaking, foaming at the mouth and then "falling asleep". He told the Judge that he didn't realize Valentina had passed away. He won't have to testify during the trial, his statements to the Judge already have legal value.

 

[Lusitana]

Valentina's father confesses that he beat his daughter on May 1: "I gave her a very big beating"
Sandro wanted to know if the girl was a victim of sexual abuse. The child was beaten 5 days before she died.

Valentina's father, Sandro, confessed that he violently beat his daughter on May 1, five days before the child's death, in Peniche.
According to the defendant's statements, the little girl didn't want to confirm whether she was being a victim of sexual abuse. Sandro admitted that he "gave the child a big beating".
The autopsy report confirms that the little girl had injuries inflicted prior to the day of her death, May 6. That day, Valentina was violently beaten by her father again. She eventually died.
According to her testimony in court, the stepmother then drove the car, with her husband in the passenger seat, and Valentina, already dead, in the back seat. Márcia helped her husband hiding the body.

 

[Lusitana]

Valentina's father and stepmother will stay incarcerated until the trial

It was decided in Court that both the father and the stepmother will stay incarcerated until the trial.
The child's father was responsible for the crime, according to the Judge.
Sandro Bernardo is accused of homicide because the beating he inflicted on his daughter caused her death, and domestic violence because he physically abused her at least one other time prior to her death. Márcia is also accused of homicide, even though she didn't actually killed the child, she didn't do anything to stop the beating and didn't call for medical help so, she contributed to Valentina's death. Both defendants are also accused of the crime of desecrating a corpse, because they disposed of the child's body.
Márcia is now incarcerated at the Tires Jail and Sandro is incarcerated at the Lisbon Prision.
Both will be quarantined for 2 weeks due to the COVID-19 crisis, and will be placed in general population gradually. It was reported that, at least Márcia will benefit from some extra protective measures, pretty much because child murderers don't do well in jail and end up beat up or worse (not that she doesn't deserve it and I don't think she will be able to avoid getting messed up with for too long).

 

[Lusitana]

Valentina's stepmother finally speaks and blames her husband

During the searches for Valentina, Márcia never left the family's home. She refused to hand Valentina's clothes over to the police, and claimed she had washed everything a few days earlier.
Márcia refused to participate in the crime reconstructions at the home and at the disposal site.
Initially, Valentina's stepmother kept silent and didn't want to give any details about what, in fact, happened that night. Márcia ended up talking and "betraying" her own husband in court, stating that she actually saw everything and knew what happened to Valentina.
She heard the child screaming, realized that she was seriously injured but didn't do anything about it. She didn't call the police or medical help. She stated that Sandro beat her so she wouldn't talk and made her put Valentina's pajama's and jacket on the already dead child, and then accompany him to help hide the body.

 

[Edinlass]

The son of Valentina's stepmother tells everything in Court: "I saw her shaking, foaming and then falling asleep"

I feel so sorry for him. Wow.

 

[Lusitana]

I knew she was going to do this when it was reported that it was the father that gave up the location of Valentina's body. I just knew that it was only a matter of time until she turned on him.
The thing is, her own son's testimony refutes what she says. He saw her go into the bathroom with her husband and Valentina. He heard the poor child screaming. A beat up woman doesn't refuse to talk about a child's death in which she was forced to participate once she's already arrested. She's lying and trying to save face with the "I'm a domestic violence victim, I didn't hurt this child", but she did. She didn't call for medical help, she let a 9-year-old die. She didn't tell anything to the police when her husband falsely reported Valentina missing and she could, he wouldn't have any chance to even touch her if she came clean right away. She knew this child was being abused and she didn't care because she didn't like her, she didn't want Valentina in the house.

 

[Lusitana]

I feel so sorry for him. Wow.

Me too. This poor boy didn't realized she was dying, but he knows now. And this isn't something that you can ever forget about. He's with his father and the Court ordered therapy/counseling for him.

 

[Edinlass]

Me too. This poor boy didn't realized she was dying, but he knows now. And this isn't something that you can ever forget about. He's with his father and the Court ordered therapy/counseling for him.

I am so glad he has his father because he will need years and years of counselling to get over this, if he ever does. She is not a mother she is a monster.

 

[Edinlass]

I knew she was going to do this when it was reported that it was the father that gave up the location of Valentina's body. I just knew that it was only a matter of time until she turned on him.
The thing is, her own son's testimony refutes what she says. He saw her go into the bathroom with her husband and Valentina. He heard the poor child screaming. A beat up woman doesn't refuse to talk about a child's death in which she was forced to participate once she's already arrested. She's lying and trying to save face with the "I'm a domestic violence victim, I didn't hurt this child", but she did. She didn't call for medical help, she let a 9-year-old die. She didn't tell anything to the police when her husband falsely reported Valentina missing and she could, he wouldn't have any chance to even touch her if she came clean right away. She knew this child was being abused and she didn't care because she didn't like her, she didn't want Valentina in the house.

She sounds VILE. Do you think he was abusing Valentina sexually?

 

[Lusitana]

After suffering the violent beating, the little girl was then wrapped in a blanket, and placed on a coach where she stayed all day. The couple told the other children that Valentina had stomach pains and that was why she was so quiet.

The family had lunch and dinner while Valentina was practically inanimate. She suffered alone and no one helped her. That night, the parents even left the house. Sandro says they went grocery shopping because they had to buy milk for their youngest daughter and, when they arrived, Valentina was dead. The investigators believe that when they arrived home and saw Valentina's dead body in the living room, her father and stepmother sent the 12-year-old boy to bed and decided the whole lie was created.

Valentina's stepmother finally speaks and blames her husband

 

[Lusitana]

She sounds VILE. Do you think he was abusing Valentina sexually?

To be honest, I don't really know. Several details of the autopsy were made public and I would believe that, if any signs of sexual abuse were found, that information would most likely be out by now. But I don't understand why he would make that up if there wasn't a need to justify any signs of sexual abuse on the child's body.
His story is that someone told him about a rumour that Valentina was being sexually abused by a friend of her mother, but the thing is, nobody related to Valentina's mother had any contact with him, they separated almost immediately when she was born (in fact, he didn't even recogized her as his daughter until she turned 1). The mother's family did not know Sandro, and I believe they didn't have any friends in common. So, who would even be in a position to know about a rumour regarding a child being sexually abused and then be able to have any contact with the father to tell him about it? In my opinion, that's not very possible and doesn't make much sense. Why not confront the mother about it if there was really a rumour going around, instead of forcing his daughter to say anything?
I don't get it, he could have said literally anything else to "justify" (there's absolutely NO justification to do this to a child, but you get what I'm saying) the violent beatings he gave his own daughter. He could've said that she didn't want to do her school work, that she was misbehaving, I don't know, something else.
So, the only options I can really think of are:

• She was, indeed, sexually abused by her father and somehow that information was kept private, which is very much possible but I'm actually surprised that they would be able to keep it secret;
  
• There's actually a rumour going around about Valentina being sexually abused by someone, which, like I said, doesn't make much sense but who knows, people talk;
  
• He made the whole thing up because he couldn't think of anything else.

 

[Blondie in Spokane]

She sounds VILE. Do you think he was abusing Valentina sexually?

I’m not Lusitania but I’ll throw in my two cents & answer.

Oh ya. IMO.

 

[Edinlass]

Yes there usually is a hint of truth through lies of missing children who end up being murdered by family members so I believe something has happened for him to say this. Either he was frightened she was going to tell her mother or as said he just wanted an excuse for his anger. Either way he is despicable and the step-mother is just as culpable for not seeking help.

 

[Kinderbelle]

IMO, sounds to me like she was being sexually abused by the step-mother and/or father and she fought back the night she died, so they beat her, or she told someone and they found out, and they beat her.

I hope they both rot.

 

[Dre]

It’s a terrible story too- “I kept beating her because she wasn’t telling the truth about being violated” what is that bullsh1t ?! Makes no sense to me except that he needed to make up a story as to why her body might have some evidence... moo

 

[TTF14]

Wait, so the reasoning this turd is giving for beating his own daughter to death is that she wouldn't fess up about whether or not she was being sexually abused by someone other than him? Am I reading this correctly?

 

[Lusitana]

IMO, sounds to me like she was being sexually abused by the step-mother and/or father and she fought back the night she died, so they beat her, or she told someone and they found out, and they beat her.

I hope they both rot.

It’s a terrible story too- “I kept beating her because she wasn’t telling the truth about being violated” what is that bullsh1t ?! Makes no sense to me except that he needed to make up a story as to why her body might have some evidence... moo

Wait, so the reasoning this turd is giving for beating his own daughter to death is that she wouldn't fess up about whether or not she was being sexually abused by someone other than him? Am I reading this correctly?

I get what all of you are saying, and when I heard the "I beat her because she wouldn't tell me if she was sexually abused or not" I also thought that he had to have sexually abuse her and was trying to explain possible signs that would show up on the autopsy. The thing is, he got zero charges that could even possibly hint sexual abuse. And I would think he would get it if there were really any remote signs of sexual abuse. I even thought that maybe LE was keeping that part of the autopsy very private for some reason, but it doesn't make sense for him to not get a separate charge for that, it's a serious crime and nobody would let him off the hook.

 

[FrostOwl]

What if the father/stepmother had heard any rumours about Valentina being abused by the stepmother's son? What would happen if such rumours would get to authorities, might the younger children be taken into custody while the authorities checked such a story? (Not that I think the boy have done anything, just point out that the father wasn't the only male in the home.)