An 82-year-old nun has been murdered in Brazil by a man who invaded the convent where she lived, in the southern city of Ivaí. Source: Crux.
Sr Nadia Gavanski, a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church’s Sisters Servants of Immaculate Mary congregation, was feeding the hens of the religious house when she came across the intruder.
According to a police report obtained, a photographer was present at the monastery to take pictures of an event and saw the man shortly after the crime.
The suspect told the photographer he worked there, but she noticed he was agitated and had blood marks on his clothes.
The suspect told the photographer he saw Sr Gavanski lying on the ground. She became suspicious and secretly recorded him. She also called an ambulance and the police, to whom she showed the footage.
The suspect was already known to police and was easily identified and located. As the officers came to his house, he tried to escape but was arrested. He admitted the crime.
“During questioning, he reported having spent the night consuming crack cocaine and alcoholic beverages,” the police report read.
“He also claimed to have heard voices ordering him to kill someone, which, according to him, prompted him to jump over the convent wall with the intention of taking a person’s life.”
The man told police the victim saw him and asked what he was doing there. He told her he was working at the convent, but saw she didn’t believe him.
“The perpetrator stated that he pushed her, causing her to fall to the ground, at which point she began to scream. He declared that he inserted the fingers of his right hand into the victim’s mouth, causing asphyxiation,” the statement said.
The suspect said he didn’t strike the nun on the head, but admitted that injuries may have resulted from her fall. He also denied having committed sexual violence and having the intention of robbing the monastery.
The man was charged with the crime of aggravated homicide.
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82-year-old nun killed in Brazilian convent (By Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux)
