A MAN ACCUSED of murdering his ex girlfriend was a “self absorbed coward” who choked her to death after his “needy” attempts to manipulate her to get back together failed, a trial has heard.

Miller Pacheco (32) of Formiga in Brazil is on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork charged with the murder of Bruna Fonseca.

Bruna (28) was found dead in his flat in Liberty Street in Cork city on New Year’s Day, 2023.

Bruna moved to Ireland from her native Brazil in September of 2022 for a “better life.” Miller travelled to Cork in November 2022 to be reunited with Bruna. However, they broke up within a few days of his arrival.

Prosecution Senior Counsel, Bernard Condon, made his closing speech to the jury today. Mr Condon said that the thinking of the accused was “if I can’t have her no one can.”

He said that Miller was a “very self absorbed and childish” man who made “his problems, her problems.”

He said that when Bruna broke up with Miller he used “emotional blackmail” in a bid to get her to change her mind.

He said the decision by Miller to hang around the hospital where Bruna worked on Christmas Day 2022 could be characterised as stalking

Mr Condon called Miller an “an arch manipulator” who tried to prey on the good nature of the deceased.

“He dangerously weaponises suicide and uses it as an emotional stick with which to beat her [Bruna]. There were no actual attempts to harm himself. It [suicide] was a useful verbal weapon to garner sympathy.

“You can see she [Bruna] was caring and advantage was taken of that.”

He noted that at one point following their break up Bruna texted Miller saying that she was being “manipulated [by him] every day.”

Mr Condon stated that the “fragile male ego” of the accused was tested by the break up.

“The anger in him and the resentment and jealously led him to kill her. He may have regretted it but doesn’t change the fact that he did it.”

Mr Condon said if it was a case of self defence you would expect Miller to “scream it from the heights.”

He insisted that the reality was that Bruna “was in his house caring for him not attacking him.”

Mr Condon added that the it had been established beyond a reasonable doubt “that the accused put his hand over her throat and pressed, that he intended to kill her and that this was manual strangulation with the right hand.”

Defence Senior Counsel, Ray Boland, in his closing address said that the Prosecution closing speech was in effect an emotional manipulation of the jury via a “character assassination” of his client.

He insisted that there was no evidence to suggest that Miller felt that if he couldn’t be in a relationship with Bruna than “nobody could.”

Mr Boland said that the account of his client was that held Bruna in a chokehold to stop her hitting him.

“He could not see her face and could not have seen the difficulty she was. How long does it take — and this is a morbid question — for the person to die? Did he miscalculate in holding her until she went quiet?”

He said that there was nothing to prevent Miller from fleeing the scene. Nor was there any evidence of him intending to kill her.

Mr Boland noted that there was no history of violence in the relationship.

He added that the State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster hadn’t completely ruled out the possibility that events occurred in the manner described by his client.

Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford told the jury to set aside their “prejudices, subjective feelings or emotions” and to focus solely on the evidence in the case. She will continue her charge to the jury tomorrow.