by The singer, who is charged with manslaughter, said she took the steps she could to properly signal the vehicle, citing her daughter’s “protective instinct” and her confusion for not having placed the triangle
Singer Cristina Branco reported this Thursday to the criminal investigation judge of Santarém the circumstances in which the accident occurred on the highway 1 that killed the singer Sara Carreira, admitting that it is still “quite painful” to remember what happened.
Cristina Branco was the only one of the four defendants involved in the accident, which occurred in the late afternoon of December 5, 2020, on the Northern Motorway (A1), near Santarém, who wanted to testify at the beginning of the proceedings.
The singer reported how she collided with Paulo Neves’ vehicle, which was traveling at approximately 30 kilometers per hour (under the legal minimum), with her vehicle turning in the opposite direction in the center lane, and the conditions under which were found. getting her daughter, then 11, out of the car in the center divider, thinking it was moving to the side of the road.
Cristina Branco, who is accused by the Public Ministry (MP), together with the actor Ivo Lucas (then Sara Carreira’s boyfriend), of manslaughter, tried to prove that she took the measures she could to properly signal the vehicle , justifying with the daughter’s “protective instinct” and the confusion she was in, the fact that she had not put on the triangle.
In the complaints, the prosecutor admitted that, in the circumstances in which Cristina Branco was, she did not need to place the triangle, but cited the fact that the singer, even driving at the speed allowed by the law, had not managed to stop or swerve the vehicle, avoiding a collision with the following vehicle at reduced speed.
For the prosecutor, the facts attributed to the defendants in the indictment must be preserved, without giving reason to the parents of Sara Carreira, Tony Carreira and Fernanda Antunes, who became assistants and asked to be charged with the crime of manslaughter by gross negligence. to Ivo Lucas and Cristina Branco, he also targets Paulo Neves.
The lawyer of the assistants, André Almeida, pointed out that the parents of Sara Carreira follow the charge of the prosecution, with the exception of the characterization of the crime of manslaughter by negligence, which he considers here the characteristic form of gross negligence, further requesting that this crime be charged equally to Paulo Neves.
In addition to the speed at which this defendant was driving and the presence of alcohol in his blood was detected four hours after the accident, André Almeida pointed to the fact that Paulo Neves had not signaled a danger lane nor, after the accident, had he placed the triangle , contributing to the accidents that followed.
For the lawyer, if Paulo Neves and Cristina Branco had placed the triangles, there would have been a “double sign” that could have prevented the following conflicts.
Ivo Lucas’ lawyer defended that, as requested by Cristina Branco, the actor should not be prosecuted for manslaughter, saying he had “serious doubts that the charge against Paulo Neves could simply be dismissed”.
The deputy accuses Paulo Neves of committing the offense of dangerous driving and three offenses against the Road Traffic Code (one light, one serious and one very serious), Cristina Branco for the crime of manslaughter and two serious offences, Ivo Lucas, Sara’s boyfriend Carreira. , for manslaughter and two administrative offenses (one minor and one serious) and Tiago Pacheco for dangerous driving of a vehicle and two administrative offenses (one minor and one serious).
In this Thursday’s complaints, the prosecutor also ruled that the request submitted by Thiago Alves for the detachment of a certificate and the initiation of an autonomous administrative offense procedure should not be granted.
According to the description of the accident, which happened in the late afternoon of December 5, 2020, already a “dark night” and with periods of light rain, Cristina Branco’s car collided, around 6:30 pm, with the vehicle of Paulo Neves. who was traveling in the right lane between 28.04 and 32.28 km/h, below the minimum speed allowed by law (50 km/h) and after consuming alcoholic beverages (had a blood alcohol level of 1.18 g/l four hours after the accident).
Cristina Branco’s car then hit the right side guard, spinning and coming to rest in the center lane of the A1. Despite turning on the hazard warning lights, the fado singer, who left the vehicle, is accused of not using the hazard warning signal.
The accident report to the prosecutor’s office states that, around 18:49, Ivo Lucas was driving along the central lane at 131.18 and 139.01 km/h, a speed greater than the maximum allowed by law (120 km/h), not having managed to avoid the fado singer’s car, which collided with his left, following aimlessly towards the center divider and overturning several times until it came to rest in the left lane, almost vertically, with part of it occupying the center lane.
At 18:51, Tiago Pacheco was traveling along the main road between 146.35 and 155.08 km/h, referring to the charge that he did not reduce speed, even realizing that he was passing the scene of the accident, without deviating from it. Ivo Lucas’s car (which partially occupied this lane), where he was still, as well as Sarah Antunes.
The investigator, Bruno Lopez, set the reading of the instructional decision for the next 27.
