'My dad was brutally murdered when I was 9 - I caught his killer 25 years on'

A woman who whose dad was shot dead when she was nine has finally seen his murderer jailed 25 years later - after she grew up, studied law, became a policewoman and caught him herself.

GIslayne Silva de Deus never forgot the day in 1999 when her dad Givaldo was assassinated at point blank range in Boa Vista, Brazil - over a debt of just £50.

The murderer, Raimundo Gomes, left a bar after a heated discussion with Givaldo before returning with a pistol and shooting him once in the head. Gomes fled and despite warrants for his arrest was never found and the case was eventually arquived.

The eldest of five grieving sisters, Gislayne said that as she grew up she became determined to bring the man who robbed them of their father to justice, studying the subjects she needed to do a law degree.

In 2007 aged 18 she started at law school, becoming a qualified lawyer seven years later.

Then, in 2023, she passed the public exam for the Civil Police, but on joining earlier this year made a specific request - to be assigned to the homicide division where she knew she would be able to track down, and finally arrest, her dad's assassin.

There she started to gather more information on Gomes' possible whereabouts, and found the last arrest warrant issued in 2019.

And last week her team finally tracked down his hiding place, arresting him on Wednesday night in farmland on the outskirts of Boa Vista, in Brazil's northern Roraima state.

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After a court appearance on Thursday he was sent to jail to serve a 12-year sentence which had already been imposed in his absence.

Gislayne, 36, later posted a video of her confronting her father's murderer in the police station, telling him: “It’s because of me that you are here, and you are now going to pay."

She said: “With his arrest I washed my soul and that of my whole family. Today we have peace and the feeling that justice has been done. His arrest represents not only the reparation of an injustice, but also the power of perseverance in the name of justice."

The policewoman told Brazilian website G1 that she burst into tears when the man was finally in custody. "When I saw the man who was responsible for my dad's death was finally in handcuffs, I couldn't hold back the tears. It was an explosion of feelings that turned into tears of relief, as it seemed like this day would never come," she said.

She said her father was an "honest and hard-working man" who always encouraged his daughters to study. "He spent time helping us with homework and times tables. He was always very close to us and caring.

"My sisters and I went through really difficult times after we lost him. What happened could easily have sent us on a different direction, but our mother always taught us to follow the right path.”

She said that through her studies and career path she always had one goal in mind - to see Gomes in jail.

She said: "My first post as a policewoman was in a penitentiary and I whenever I arrived there I always imagined seeing him arriving to serve his sentence. That always motivated me."

She added: "I want this story to serve as an example to other children who, like me, lost their mother or father in a violent way."