A librarian who was found dead in a flat in Cork city centre on New Year’s Day died of asphyxia due to manual strangulation, an inquest has heard.
Bruna Fonseca (28), a native of Formiga in Minas Gerais, Brazil, moved to Cork in September of last year with a view to improving her English and was working as a contract cleaner at the Mercy University Hospital at the time of her death.
State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster, who performed a postmortem on Ms Fonseca, outlined the cause of death at Cork Coroner’s Court on Thursday.
Sgt Fergus Twomey told coroner Philip Comyn that a man (29) has been charged with Ms Fonseca’s murder and is due to go on trial at the Central Criminal Court next year. Mr Comyn adjourned the inquest until the criminal proceedings have concluded.
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More than €50,000 was raised after a Cork based cousin and a niece of Ms Fonseca’s set up a GoFundMe page to help with the costs of repatriating Ms Fonseca’s body to Brazil.
She was buried in Formiga on January 16th last and is survived by her parents, Tadeu Jose Fonseca and Marina Dos Reis Palharares Fonseca, and her sister, Izabel.