Accused of killing ex-pastor with gunshots and stabbings goes to trial in Ponta Grossa

Nearly five years after a murder that had a great repercussion in Ponta Grossa, Rafael Christian Nusda will be taken to the Jury Court accused of the death of Cristian Luiz Gonçalves Rosas de Oliveira, 35. The trial is scheduled for next Thursday, at 8:30 a.m., at the Ponta Grossa State Forum.

The session will be in person and chaired by Judge Luiz Carlos Fortes Bittencourt. The official agenda of the Jury Court confirms Rafael as the defendant in the trial. The case is currently classified by the Justice as a criminal action of competence of the Jury for qualified homicide. Cristian appears as a victim and Rafael as a defendant.

Trio jury accused of attempted murder in PG stays for November

On Friday, a few days before the trial, the magistrate authorized the collection of new documents submitted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and determined that the defense should be scientific.

Crime happened during the early morning hours in Ronda

The murder took place in the early morning hours of December 7, 2021, on Republica de Panamá Street, in the Ronda neighborhood. Recent document issued by the Jury Court points out that the facts described in the complaint would have occurred around 4 o’clock, near number 893.

At the time, the Military Police recorded the attendance around 3:20. Cristian was found wounded by a white weapon and firearm. The Samu came to provide care, but he did not resist and died on the spot.

Civil police later reported that the body was in a public place and presented, among the injuries, a gunshot mark in the chest. The investigations began in the early morning hours.

Cristian was 35. In a report published by BnT at the time, he was identified as a man who had acted as an evangelical church pastor, worked as an administrative assistant in an agricultural cooperative and was pursuing a postgraduate degree in Ponta Grossa.

He was buried the day after the crime, on December 8, 2021, at Paula Cemetery São Vicente, in Ponta Grossa.

Suspect arrested hours later

The police arrived at the suspect on the same day. According to PCPR, he was 32 at the time and lived in the same neighborhood where the murder occurred. The arrest took place approximately five hours after the start of the incident.

At around 9 a.m., the man was located near the area where the body had been found. The police also reported that he showed blood marks when he was arrested.

Information released by the Civil Police and published by the BnT in December 2021 indicated that investigators followed traces and blood marks to identify the place where the events allegedly began. The suspect lived a few meters from that point.

What the defendant said to the police

The defendant’s version at that time was self-defense. According to the report released by the Civil Police at the time, Rafael said that Cristian had, in earlier dates, been involved in a situation related to his wife. At dawn of the crime, according to this version, Cristian would have gone to the residence of the accused altered and carrying a machete, starting to assault him.

Rafael said he would have reacted to the attacks. According to the version presented to the police, Cristian had left the site and then returned with a firearm, making a shot. A second shot would have failed. The defendant then claimed that he had knocked Cristian down from a ravine and that he would not have seen what happened, claiming that there were other people on the street.

The Civil Police, however, informed at that time that they found contradictions in the testimony. Investigators also recorded that the suspect had blood marks and was wearing two T-shirts when he was presented at the police station. Before the elements gathered that morning, he was found guilty of murder.

Justice released the defendant after custody hearing

Despite the arrest in flagrante, Rafael remained detained for less than 24 hours. On December 8, 2021, after a custody hearing, the court granted provisional release for him to respond to the case outside of prison. At the time, the defense supported the self-defense thesis, arguing that Cristian had gone to the residence of the accused and threatened him first with a machete and later with a firearm.

Current documentation of the case confirms that Rafael is not in jail. In a letter issued by the Jury Court in August of this year, the information expressly states “trial with a defendant: no.” The self-defense thesis presented at that time, however, does not mean absolution.

The trial went on and reached the Jury Court, where it will be up to the jurors to review the evidence, the versions presented by the parties and decide on the criminal responsibility of the accused.

Justice asked for expertise and history of occurrences

In the weeks leading up to the trial, the Court adopted new measures to supplement the autos. In August, the Criminalistics Institute of Paraná was notified if an expert examination had been carried out at the murder site. The request expressly mentions the facts that occurred in the Republic of Panama Street and determines that, if there is, a copy of the expert report is forwarded or informed the number of the document and the responsible sector.

The Justice also ordered the 13th Police Subdivision and the 1st Battalion of the Military Police to collect all the incident reports in which Cristian was included as a party, including archived, closed or ongoing records.

The current case identifies the main charge as qualified homicide, but the documents made available to the BnT at this time do not specify which qualifier will be submitted to the jurors. Therefore, it is not possible to state, only with these documents, what qualifying circumstance the Public Prosecutor’s Office will support in plenary.

Police will be witnesses at the jury.

At least two civilian police officers were formally requested to attend the session as witnesses: Matheus Candéo Iurk and Nickson Claiter da Silva. The court request informs that both will be able to testify during the trial and confirms that the session will take place in person on September 17 at 8:30 a.m. The document also relates the case to the Police Inquiry No. 234576/2021.

The trial takes place in the Plenary Court of the Jury Court of Ponta Grossa, in the State Justice Forum, located in Rua Doutor Leopoldo Guimarães da Cunha, in the Oficinas neighborhood. During the session, the prosecution and defense may present their theses to the jury.

The Judgment Council will decide, based on the set of evidence and the debates in plenary, whether or not Rafael Christian Nusda should be criminally responsible for Cristian’s death.