He is not this monster they are creating
No sétimo dia de depoimentos no julgamento pelo assassinato de Henry Borel, a companheira atual de Jairinho tomou o lugar das testemunhas para defender o homem acusado de matar o filho de quatro anos de sua ex-parceira. Fernanda Abidur, que retomou o relacionamento com o ex-vereador após sua prisão, afirmou que sua única falha era a infidelidade — não a violência. O julgamento, que reúne acusações de homicídio triplamente qualificado, tortura e fraude processual, continua a revelar versões conflitantes sobre o que aconteceu dentro de um apartamento no Rio de Janeiro em março de 2021, quando uma criança morreu e os adultos ao seu redor começaram a construir suas defesas.
- Uma criança de quatro anos chegou a um hospital do Rio com múltiplas lesões internas e parada cardíaca em março de 2021 — e nunca saiu com vida.
- Jairinho e a mãe de Henry, Monique Medeiros, enfrentam acusações gravíssimas: homicídio triplamente qualificado, tortura, coação e falsificação de documentos.
- A defesa aposta em testemunhas próximas ao acusado para desacreditar relatos de violência — o pai de Jairinho, um coronel aposentado, já tentou desmentir ex-namoradas que descreveram agressões.
- A babá que cuidava de Henry no momento da morte contradisse a narrativa da defesa, relatando episódios suspeitos e revelando que recebeu instruções para apagar mensagens após a morte do menino.
- Fernanda Abidur, que voltou a se relacionar com Jairinho enquanto ele estava preso, encerrou seu depoimento de quarenta minutos abraçando e beijando o acusado diante do tribunal.
No sétimo dia de depoimentos do julgamento de Henry Borel, Fernanda Abidur subiu ao banco das testemunhas para defender Jairo Souza Santos Júnior — o Jairinho —, ex-vereador acusado de matar o filho de quatro anos de sua ex-parceira. A mensagem que ela trouxe era simples: o único defeito real dele era a infidelidade.
Abidur e Jairinho se conhecem desde a infância. Namoraram por cerca de uma década, tiveram um filho juntos e se separaram por causa das traições repetidas dele. Após a prisão de Jairinho, ela voltou a se aproximar, passou a visitá-lo regularmente na cadeia e retomou o relacionamento. No domingo à noite, sentada no segundo tribunal do júri no centro do Rio, ela estava lá para testemunhar em seu favor.
Em seu depoimento de quarenta minutos, ela descreveu situações em que foi ela quem o agrediu ao descobrir as traições — e ele nunca revidou. "Ele não é esse monstro que estão criando", disse. Mencionou seus pais idosos, de 86 e 84 anos, que rezam por ele todos os dias às seis da tarde. Ao terminar, abraçou e beijou Jairinho diante do tribunal.
Abidur foi a décima nona testemunha de um julgamento que já ouviu o pai de Jairinho — um coronel aposentado que tentou desacreditar ex-namoradas do filho, todas elas com relatos de agressões. Em sentido oposto, a babá que cuidava de Henry no momento de sua morte descreveu episódios suspeitos envolvendo Jairinho e a criança, e revelou ter recebido instruções para apagar mensagens e minimizar o que havia acontecido naquele apartamento.
Henry Borel morreu em 8 de março de 2021, aos quatro anos, após dar entrada no Hospital Barra D'Or com múltiplas lesões internas e em parada cardíaca. Jairinho e Monique Medeiros, mãe do menino, respondem por homicídio triplamente qualificado, tortura, coação processual, fraude e falsificação de documentos. O julgamento prossegue com depoimentos que, dia após dia, constroem versões opostas sobre o que aconteceu dentro de um apartamento na Zona Oeste do Rio — e sobre quem é responsável pela morte de uma criança.
On the seventh day of testimony in the Henry Borel case, Fernanda Abidur took the stand to defend the man she now lives with—Jairo Souza Santos Júnior, the former city councilman known as Jairinho, who stands accused of murdering her four-year-old son. She had one simple claim to make: his only real flaw was infidelity.
Abidur and Jairinho have a long history. They met as children, became best friends, and began dating when she was sixteen. They stayed together for roughly a decade, during which they had a son, before separating over his repeated affairs. After Jairinho was arrested in connection with Henry's death, they reconnected. She began visiting him regularly in jail, and eventually they resumed their relationship. Now, sitting in the second jury court in downtown Rio on a Sunday evening in late May, she was there to testify on his behalf.
Her strategy was clear: minimize the allegations of violence. She described moments when she herself had struck him upon discovering his infidelities, yet he never fought back. "He is not this monster they are creating," she said from the witness stand. She spoke of her elderly parents—her father eighty-six, her mother eighty-four—who pray for him every day at six in the evening, asking that justice be served. Her testimony lasted about forty minutes. When it ended, she embraced and kissed Jairinho in front of the court.
Abidur was the nineteenth witness called in a trial that has already heard from Jairinho's own father, a retired colonel who attempted to discredit the accounts of two of his son's ex-girlfriends and the daughter of one of them—all of whom had described being attacked by him. The court also heard from Thayná de Oliveira Ferreira, the nanny who cared for Henry at the time of his death. Her testimony painted a different picture entirely. She recounted suspicious episodes involving Jairinho and the boy, and she revealed that after Henry died, she received instructions to delete messages and downplay any reports about what happened in that household.
The case itself centers on the death of Henry Borel on March 8, 2021. The child was four years old when he arrived at Hospital Barra D'Or in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood with multiple internal injuries and in cardiac arrest. He died shortly after. Jairinho and Henry's mother, Monique Medeiros, are charged with triple-qualified homicide, torture, coercion during legal proceedings, procedural fraud, and falsification of documents. The prosecution alleges that the boy was subjected to systematic violence inside the apartment where he lived with his mother and her then-partner in Rio's West Zone.
The trial began with twenty-seven witnesses scheduled to testify, though that number has since dropped to twenty-three after both the defense and prosecution dismissed several. The proceedings continue to unfold in the jury court, with each day bringing new accounts of what happened behind closed doors—some defending Jairinho's character, others describing a pattern of harm that ended in a child's death.
Notable Quotes
He is not this monster they are creating. My parents pray for him every day at six in the evening, asking that justice be served.— Fernanda Abidur, Jairinho's current partner
I discovered some infidelities. He had that flaw, but I insisted for a long time because he was an excellent companion. Eventually I decided to live my own life, but always with respect and friendship toward him.— Fernanda Abidur
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would someone who separated from Jairinho years ago come back to defend him so publicly, especially in a murder trial?
She says they reconnected after he was arrested. She has a son with him—that's a permanent tie. And in her telling, she never saw the violence others describe. She saw infidelity, yes, but not aggression.
But she admits he was unfaithful repeatedly. How does that square with calling him an excellent partner?
In her mind, those are separate things. A good companion who cheats is still, in her view, better than no companion at all. She stayed for ten years before she couldn't anymore.
The nanny's testimony seems to contradict everything Abidur said. How does the defense respond to that?
By calling her credibility into question. The father tried to do the same with the ex-girlfriends. The strategy is: everyone testifying against him has a reason to lie or misremember. Only those close to him now tell the truth.
Do people in the courtroom believe her?
That's what the jury will decide. But her testimony serves a purpose regardless—it plants doubt. It says: this man has people who love him, who see no monster. Whether that's enough to overcome a dead child is another question entirely.
What happens next in the trial?
More witnesses. The prosecution will continue building its case that violence happened in that apartment. The defense will keep presenting people who say it didn't, or that Jairinho wasn't capable of it. Eventually the jury votes.