NEW YORK – The gruesome murder trial of a Portuguese model, accused of killing his elderly lover, continued last Friday with jurors being shown the bloody corkscrew that he used to castrate his victim.
The New York Times reported that Renato Seabra, 22, admits to using the bottle opener to gouge off the testicles of wealthy Portuguese fashion journalist Carlos Castro, 65, during a sickening January 2011 slaying.
The Manhattan Supreme Court heard NYPD crime-scene Detective Ricardo Yanis describe to jurors images of items on the blood-splattered floor of a room at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square, where the corkscrew was found.
From The New York Times report:
“What is in this picture?” prosecutor Maxine Rosenthal asked the detective.
“It is a corkscrew showing possible blood,” Yanis said. In the photo, the corkscrew lay atop a white hotel slipper on the carpeting.
Also atop the slipper lay a small square note, on which was written in Portuguese, “Atras . . . mas boa pessoa — poucas vezes.”
The message, in English, is cryptic: “Behind . . . but good person — few times.”
Prosecutors said Seabra also used the corkscrew to disfigure his lover’s face.
“Here you have a white blanket cover, and the black sneakers, and the decedent’s testicle on the white blanket,” Yanis testified. A broken and bloody wine glass also was found in the room.
The floor was a tangle of bloody towels and discarded laundry, including Seabra’s black Calvin Klein “extreme skinny” label jeans.
According to the hotel Seabra was in his room for more than 5 hours with Castro’s lifeless and disfigured body lying there.
The trial continues.
