Brazilian Soccer Guy Who Had His Girlfriend Killed And Fed To Dogs: "What Happened Happened"

Goalkeeper Bruno de Souza was recently signed by Boa Esporte upon his release from prison after serving about seven years of a 22-year sentence for plotting to kill his ex-girlfriend. At Bruno’s behest, the woman was tortured, killed, and her body fed to Bruno’s dogs to hide the evidence. In Bruno’s first public interview since signing with Boa, he explains his past by saying “mistakes happen” and that he’s “not a bad guy.”

Here’s Bruno, in a conversation with ESPN Brazil, on how feels after getting a second chance:

Dude, in the dark world I was in, people tried to bury my dream in a mistake I might have made or not. There was a time in my life that I threw in the towel, but people who were close to me, like my wife, Ingrid, never agreed to it. She kept me upright. It’s not fame, money, that’s the least seen at the moment. It’s for me, really. From where I left to get where I’ve come, it is not easy. Mistakes happen in life, especially when you’re around people where money and fame blind you.

[...]

The person who leaves the world where I was and asks for an opportunity does not become a bad guy. I’m not a bad guy. I made a mistake. Was it a serious one? It was serious. My family suffered a lot from that. I have made many people around me suffer and now in the most difficult moment of my life they have stayed with me.

[...]

I ask for an opportunity to start a new life. When a mason or driver leaves, they will return to that. The only thing I know how to do in life is to play football, so I can not let go of my dream. I ask for an opportunity for people to review, I will not stop, I’m going to follow my career, man, I’m going, I have the courage, I’ve been through the worst. I felt it on the skin and it hurt a lot.

On if he has repented for the crimes he pled guilty to:

Dude, what happened, happened. You have to repent for the things from the past and become a better person. Just because you’re deep in the pit does not mean that you have to stay there, no. If you have people reaching for you, you have to climb out. But how to serve a sentence if I was a temporary prisoner? I think so, just as justice has been done against me, an hour has to be done in my favor, too. We have to talk about more love for people. Love is God. I know God will put me in the place I have to put. I know that there is a good thing in Boa, I will fight, I will overcome any situation and obstacle that appears in front of me.

He goes on to say how he looks at the career of former player Edmundo as a guide. Edmundo was once in a drunk driving accident that killed his three passengers in the car, but escaped serious punishment and continued playing. Bruno then clarifies that he’s not directly comparing the two cases, but that “There is no such thing as a little sin and a big sin. It is all sin.”

[ ESPN Brazil | Guardian]