Female bodybuilder Ellen Campos shot by hulk boyfriend who opened fire 4 times before fleeing & claiming ‘self defence’
THE boyfriend of a tattooed bodybuilder who shot her four times has been jailed for just five years after claiming he acted in self-defence.
Weldrin Lopes claimed Ellen Campos had threatened him before he opened fire and fled the scene, leaving the bodybuilder for dead.
The victim Ellen Cristina Otoni Campos was shot inside her boyfriend's flat in the city of Belo Horizonte, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, on February 23 last year.
Despite taking four bullets, she managed to leave the flat and flee downstairs, where she was rescued and taken to hospital.
Belo Horizonte Jury Court has now sentenced Weldrin Lopes de Alcantar, 44, to five years and eight months in prison.
He will serve his prison term in a semi-open regime for attempted femicide.
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The jury decided that the defendant's actions were driven by violent emotion as a result of the victim's threats.
This resulted in the removal of the qualifier of the mitigation of the sentence, according to local media.
'PRIVILEGED AND BLESSED'
Judge Thiago Grazziane Gandra said: "The sentencing council partially accepted the accusation and decided that the defendant committed against the victim, Ellen Cristina Otoni Campos, the crime of attempted murder, qualified by femicide and by the resource that made the victim's defence difficult, with the privilege of violent emotion."
Previously, Ellen posted a thank you message to everybody who supported her on social media when she celebrated her 38th birthday.
She told them: "You are the heroes after this victory and this miracle";.
In the post, she also said that she felt "privileged and blessed" to have survived and added that 2023 would be a "year of rebirth and a lot of gratitude for life".
According to reports, Ellen, 37, had been waiting for her boyfriend for two hours at the front door of his apartment.
When the alleged attacker, Weldrin Lopes de Alcantara, finally arrived home by car, they went inside the flat.
FLED ON FOOT
Residents of the apartment block then reported hearing a fight, followed by about seven shots.
De Alcantara, 44, then reportedly tried to flee by car, but the electric gate failed to open, so he abandoned his car and fled on foot.
He remained at large for days before handing himself in to police on February 27.
During questioning, the musclebound attacker told the police that Ellen had been threatening him.
He also said that he had acted in self-defence and claimed he was not even Ellen's boyfriend.
Local media quoted him as saying: "She showed up at my house unexpectedly. I wasn't expecting Ellen there.
THREATENED SON
"We had a few encounters. We hooked up several times, but it never went beyond that, precisely because she's a very aggressive and violent person.
"When I said I wanted to distance myself, she would threaten me and threaten herself. She even threatened my three-year-old son."
The boy is believed to have been at the scene at the time of the shooting.
De Alcantara's lawyer, Lais Fonseca, has claimed that her client fired the shots accidentally while trying to unload his gun after Ellen tried to grab it.
However, police did not believe this version of events and arrested De Alcantara on remand for attempted femicide.
Doctors said she suffered wounds to the left side of her jaw, the back of her head, her left shoulder, and her left thigh.
What is femicide?
Femicide is generally used to describe the crime of killing a woman or women on the basis of their gender.
It does not exist as a definition in UK law, instead falling under manslaughter or murder.
In 2015, Brazil passed a new law on femicide to tackle the rise of gender killings.
The nation joined 15 other Latin American countries in bringing in laws against femicide.
Nadine Gasman, head of the agency United Nations Women in Brazil, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation: "This law typifies femicide as a grave crime and identifies it as a specific crime against women.
"It's a way to talk about this problem, make it visible by giving it a name and increasing sanctions for this crime.
"It has taken us a long time to say that the killing of a woman is a different phenomenon.
"Men are killed in the street, women are killed in the home.
"Men are killed with guns, women with knives and hands."
Figures show that in 2022, approximately 1.4 per 100,000 Brazilian women were killed on account of their gender.
Police seized a .38 calibre revolver from the apartment.
The victim is the niece of Reimont Luiz Otoni Santa Barbara - a member of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil for the Workers' Party.
He wrote online: "Last year, violence numbers hit a record high.
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"This shows us that we need to fight tirelessly for the strengthening of public policies that embrace, defend, and raise awareness. It's about women's lives.
"I ask everyone to root for the quick recovery of my dear Ellen and all women who are victims of sexism."