The driver of the car that caused Sarah Carrera’s accident says he was not driving 30 kilometers per hour

The driver of the car that led to the accident that claimed the life of Sarah Carrera denied today, Tuesday, that he was driving the car at a speed of about 30 kilometers per hour, as experts say, but rather at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour.

The accused, accused of murder due to gross negligence, was speaking before the Santarem Court, in the first session of the trial in the case of the accident that caused the death of the singer Sarah Carrera, on December 5, 2020.

Paulo Neves said that he did not agree with the results of the examination, which concluded that he was driving at a speed between 28 and 32 kilometers per hour on Highway No. 1 (A1), in the Santarém area, at the time when the second accused’s car broke down. Cristina Branco crashed his car. “I have a lot of doubts about the speed,” he said, considering that he would be traveling at a speed of between “70 and 80 kilometers per hour.”

Regarding the level of alcohol in the blood, he said that he “had to accept” the test result, which showed an alcohol level of 1.18 grams per liter of blood (higher than what the law allows – 0.5 grams per liter), explaining that he had been eating a snack with Two of my colleagues and I “ate cheese and drank wine,” without being able to say how much.

However, the accused said he was aware of his driving. “I was fully aware of what I was doing,” Paulo Neves told the Santarém court. According to the description of the accident, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Cristina Branco’s car collided with Paulo Neves’ vehicle, which was driving in the right lane, at a speed less than the minimum permitted by law (50 km/h). Then drink alcoholic beverages.

Cristina Branco’s car then hit the right barrier, spun and stopped in the center lane of the A1. Despite the danger indicator lights being turned on, the public prosecutor’s office accused the fado singer, who left the car with her daughter, of failing to indicate the danger in advance.

The fado singer told the court today: “I saw some lights right in front of my car, and I put my hand on my daughter’s chest, braked and said, ‘Let’s hit.’” Cristina Branco explained to Judge Marisa Dias Jinga that her concern was “to place her daughter safely” on the central divider of the A1 and that she did not put She wrote a warning triangle about the accident because she was “confused and in shock” and because “there were cars driving around”, including one he remembers passing a truck.

The first session of the trial was marked by the hearing of Ivo Lucas, the singer’s boyfriend, who was driving the car in which they were traveling and who is also accused of gross negligent homicide. In emotional testimony, the third defendant to be heard by the court stated that he and Sara Carrera were traveling from Porto to Charnica da Caparica, where the singer was supposed to have dinner with her mother and spend the weekend with friends. In Salvatierra of Mages.

Ivo Lucas stated that they were talking and that he only noticed “someone” at the same moment when Sara Carrera “shouted ‘be careful'” and then crashed into Cristina Branco’s vehicle. The fado singer had already testified that she saw the couple’s car “fly over” where she was with her daughter, hit the barrier and flipped several times.

Ivo Lucas said he did not realize the impact and only realized it from the moment he found himself “crossing the road, without a shirt and with his arm completely disfigured.” “I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know what had happened and I didn’t know anything about Sarah,” he recalls, adding that two years after the accident, his memories are still just “flashes” that he cannot “arrange in chronological order.”

Also involved in the accident was Thiago Pacheco, who was walking along the central route of the A1 motorway and who, according to the prosecution, did not slow down, although he realized that he was having an accident, and was unable to avoid the Evo. Lucas’ vehicle (which was partly occupied by that track), where he was still there, as was Sarah Carrera.

He was the final defendant to speak to the court this morning, having also taken issue with the speed at which the prosecution alleges he was traveling [entre 146,35 e 155,08 Km/h]. The driver claimed that he was traveling at “85/86 kilometers per hour” a few minutes before the collision and that he did not apply the brakes when overtaking the accident because he “did not feel the need to slow down.”

Thiago Pacheco also said that he did not see any signs of an accident and that he only noticed “orange lights” on the right lane of the A1, after he passed through the accident cars “overtaking debris” and ended up crashing with his car on the A1. The road vehicle is driven by Ivo Lucas.

The trial was witnessed by Sarah Carrera’s parents, singer Tony Carrera and Fernanda Antunes.