BRAZIL: One of the most famous crimes in recent Brazilian history ended after a former congresswoman was found guilty of ordering the murder of her pastor husband and given a sentence of 50 years and 28 days in jail.
On Sunday, the renowned gospel singer Flordelis dos Santos de Souza, popularly known as Flordelis, was found guilty of additional crimes. The charges included making at least six unsuccessful attempts to poison Anderson do Carmo with cyanide before giving up and planning his murder.
Do Carmo, 42, was shot numerous times in June 2019 as he entered the gated house they occupied outside of Rio de Janeiro with their large number of children, both biological and adoptive.
Flávio, Flordelis’s son, was given a 33-year prison term last year for using the gun, and Lucas Cezar, his adoptive brother, was given a seven-year sentence for aiding in the purchase of the murder weapon. Cezar’s sentence was lowered due to his cooperation with the authorities.
Four additional people—including one biological son and two adoptive sons—were sentenced to prison earlier this year in a case that garnered international attention for its intersection of faith, fame, and politics.
In last week’s trial, Flordelis’s attorneys said she was unaware of the crime committed by individuals who wished to shield her from the evangelical preacher’s alleged abuse of both sexual and physical violence.
She was deemed the intellectual architect of the crime intended to appear as a botched robbery by the judge, who rejected those claims.
According to the court, Flordelis killed the victim because she had strict control over the family’s money and handled disputes inflexibly, refusing to favor her close friends over other family members.
For her involvement in the attempted killings of Do Carmo, Simone Rodrigues, the daughter of Flordelis, received a concurrent sentence of 31 years, four months, and 20 days. The charges of murder and attempted murder against two of Flordelis’ other children and a granddaughter were dropped.
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