Bruno: Convicted of murdering ex-girlfriend, goalkeeper makes controversial return to soccer

Souza was just recently signed to a two-year deal to play professional soccer again, this time for Boa Esporte, a team now playing in the Brasileiro Série C after being relegated from Série B in 2015. Most expected him to serve 15 more years behind bars on his 2013 conviction, but he was released last month on a technicality, while his lawyers appeal his conviction.

It was a tip from Bruno’s cousin that led to his arrest.

“And Bruno knows how to play football”. “She went to the police about this”.

” ‘The men here think that if you are with a woman, you own her, ‘ she tells me”. She refused, giving birth to a son, Bruninho.

The 32-year old, who won the first division with Flamengo in 2009, said he had the backing of God and his family. “Later they deboned and disemboweled her”. She was tortured, strangled, dismembered, and then fed to dogs by Bruno’s friends, according to The Guardian. Eliza Samudio, the woman de Souza was convicted of murdering, was one of his lovers.

Edson Moreira, a detective who investigated the case, said: ‘His acts were nearly impossible to describe without breaking down – images from the worst nightmare you could imagine’. Souza, who was married, denied the child was his; DNA tests later proved he was the father. The child is now being looked after by Ms Samudio’s mother. Fans have also taken to the team’s Facebook page to protest Bruno’s signing, and women’s groups have spoken out against it.

Three sponsors reportedly pulled their support of Boa Esporte after the announcement was made. And it’s obviously not sitting well with many fans or sponsors of the team.

The club’s president, Rone Moraes de Costa, said that although Bruno was convicted, the club would help him re-adjust back to society and offer him the “dignity of work”.

“We protest both against this contract and against the willingness of the team and its sponsors to have their images linked to feminised”. However, that doesn’t make his release – nor his new job with Boa Esporte – any less abhorrent.

In a news conference transmitted by ESPN Brazil Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time), Souza said he was thankful for the opportunity and had been preparing himself for years to return to play.

But after serving less than a third of his 22-year sentence, Bruno has been snapped up by Brazillian team Boa Esporte.