Alleged Cecilia Haddad killer Mario Marcelo Santoro ‘confessed’

Accused killer Mario Marcelo Santoro had “confessed” to the Sydney murder of Cecilia Haddad, a hearing has been told.

Accused killer Mario Marcelo Santoro had “confessed” to the Sydney murder of Cecilia Haddad during informal talks with police, a pre-trial hearing in Rio de Janeiro was told today.

Santoro arrived in court in handcuffs, jeans and a white t-shirt, shaking hands and exchanging smiles with his lawyers before the hearing commenced. His lawyers, who repeatedly asked for his handcuffs to be removed, hope to weaken the evidence against him in order for the judge to grant Santoro bail.

Mario Marcelo Santoro, left, has just been moved to Benfica prison.

The pre-trial hearing will decide if Santoro will face a full hearing for Ms Haddad’s murder.

Santoro is accused of having strangled Haddad to death in April in Sydney before fleeing to Brazil, and faces charges of qualified homicide and femicide. If convicted he will receive a sentence of twelve to thirty years in Brazilian prison, rather than being extradited to Australia.

Fabio Cardoso, deputy director of Rio’s homicide department, was the first witness to testify to the judge and Santoro’s defence lawyers. Santoro spent several days in Cardoso’s custody at the homicide department, before being transferred to Benfica prison to await his hearing.

While in custody, Cardoso revealed that Santoro “confessed” to killing Haddad during an informal chat with one of the police officers. However, he refused to respond to any official questions without a lawyer present. Santoro’s defence have petitioned to include this police officer’s testimony in the pre-trial hearings.

Despite this, Cardoso believes that the evidence points towards Santoro as Haddad’s killer. In particular, Cardoso drew attention to a WhatsApp message from Haddad’s phone, sent to her mother after she had been killed but before Australian police found her body. The message said that Santoro had chosen to return to Brazil to spend more time with his children.

“Her own mother knew the way she wrote, and she already believed that Cecília hadn’t written it,” Cardoso told the judge. The pre-trial hearing is set to continue for up to 14 more days.