When she was just nine years old, Gislayne Silva de Deus tragically lost her father, Givaldo.
He was killed in February 1999 over a debt of just $66, the Mirror reports. He was just 36 years old.
Her father’s killer was a man named Raimundo Gomes. The pair had been in a bar one night when Gomes stormed off. When he returned, he shot Gislayne’s father in the head and fled the scene.
Despite warrants being put out for Gomes’ arrest, the case was archived after authorities were unable to locate him. The last warrant for his arrest was issued five years ago in 2019.
Her father’s tragic killing set Gislayne on a path of justice, and she dedicated her life to the law – graduating law school in 2014 as a lawyer before eventually becoming a police officer in 2023.
She asked to be placed in the homicide department – determined to finally bring her father’s killer to justice.
Last month, the 36-year-old police officer and her team found Gomes in his hideaway in farmland in Boa Vista – located in the Roraima state in north Brazil.
In a video showing the moment she confronted Gomes, she delivered a powerful eight-word message: “It’s because of me that you are here.”
She then informed Gomes that he was “now going to pay”.
Gomes was immediately imprisoned for 12 years – a sentence that had previously been set in place in his absence.
Speaking to Brazilian website G1, she recalled the emotional moment Gomes was finally brought in to 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 added that she wants her story to serve as inspiration to other children who may have lost a parent under such tragic circumstances.
