14 Oct 2022 Natal, Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil) Stabbed and decapitated
TDoR list ref: tgeu/tdor2023/14-Oct-2022/Ester da Silva
Ester was found decapitated, with stab wounds and with one of her pinky fingers missing. According to authorities, she was a teen and survival sex worker.
Her head was not found until early November.
The body of the [trans woman] Ester, 15 years old, was found dead on the premises of the municipal polyclinic, in the Santa Catarina neighborhood, North Zone of Natal. The information was confirmed by friends Raquel and Júlia (fictitious names), this Monday (17), exclusively to TV Ponta Negra reporter, Rogério Fernandes. Ester's name is Ismael Gomes da Silva, born in Olinda (PE).
According to friends, they recognized Ester's body by the clothes she was wearing the day she left home. Júlia said that she met the teenager on the abandoned street, talked to her, felt confident and decided to take her home. “She said that she had come from Recife two months ago with two girls, but that she had nowhere to stay,” she recalls.
Upon learning of her friend's death, Rachel contacted Ester's family, in Pernambuco, to let them know what had happened, however - according to her - the family treated her badly and would have said that she could bury the teenager's body. “We can't do anything, bury it right there. People, where is the love of this family for this child? That's why Esther left home”, believes Rachel.
Rachel and Júlia say that the family did not send documentation and, for now, Ester's body remains at Itep awaiting release. “To release and organize the burial we need a power of attorney, but so far nothing has been resolved because we don't have a document. We want justice for Ester and for the other two who have died in the same place”, said Rachel.
On 6th July 2023 Bruno Alysson Souza de Lima, 26, was found guilty of Ester's murder and sentenced to 18 years and 6 monts in prison.
The man responsible for the murder and decapitation of a 15-year-old [trans woman] was sentenced to prison last Thursday (6). Bruno Alysson Souza de Lima, 26, was found guilty by the first jury of the First Criminal Court of the District of Natal, and sentenced to 18 years and six months in prison, initially in a closed regime. The crime took place on October 14, 2022, in the Potengi neighborhood, North Zone of Natal.