Court orders convicted killer goalkeeper back to jail in Brazil

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The goalkeeper who served part of a 22-year sentence for murder before returning to football in April has been ordered back to prison, Brazil's Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.





Bruno Fernandes handed himself in to police after the court ruled the decision to release him was 'unviable.'

However, he returned to his club's base in the small town of Varginha because police did not have the correct paperwork to detain him overnight.

"He came to the police station but we didn’t have the documents to hold him," Thiago Gomes, an investigator at the police station, told Reuters.

"He went to the hotel where the players are living and tomorrow at midday he is going to the courthouse to present himself to the judge."

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled by three votes to one earlier in the day to overturn a February appeal ruling that allowed Fernandes to leave jail.

"The decision reestablishes Bruno’s custody," the court said in a statement.

Fernandes, a once promising goalkeeper who won the first division with Flamengo in 2009, was arrested in 2010 and found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend, who was the mother of his son, and feeding her body to dogs.

He served seven years of a 22-year jail sentence before being released and was then signed in March by Boa Esporte, a small team in Brazil's second division.

He has played in several league games since making his debut in April.

The club was not immediately available for comment. Media reports said they had cancelled Tuesday afternoon's training session.

Fernandes's lawyer, Lucio Adolfo da Silva, was quoted as saying by the UOL website that the player would appeal the court's decision.





(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Toby Davis/Peter Rutherford)


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