STJ judges Porsche driver's defense request against arrest on Tuesday

The Superior Court of Justice (STJ) will judge next Tuesday afternoon (7) the habeas corpus presented by the defense of businessman Fernando Sastre de Andrade Filho against the decision of the São Paulo Court that ordered his arrest.

Sastre was driving the Porsche that caused the death of app driver Ornaldo da Silva Viana, 52 years old, on March 31, in São Paulo.

Sastre's preventive detention was ordered on Friday (3), in a decision signed by judge João Augusto Garcia, of the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP).

Sastre's defense filed the habeas corpus in the early hours of this Monday (6). The case's rapporteur, minister Daniela Teixeira, took the case to the Fifth Panel of the STJ for judgment.

The request is to suspend the arrest order.

As Sastre's defense said in the case, the decision disregarded the fact that the businessman was already effectively complying with eight precautionary measures previously imposed. Lawyers also argue that the determination represents illegal constraint.

“The moral lynching, by the population, inflamed by leaks and media sensationalism, has already imposed on the Patient (and his family) the impossibility of leaving home or going to any public place, so that it can be said , without fear of making mistakes, that he has already been 'segregated from society' since the day of the events”, stated the lawyers.

Fernando Sastre became a defendant in the case. He will be charged with qualified intentional homicide and serious bodily injury.

According to the complaint from the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MP-SP), Sastre drank alcohol in two establishments before driving the luxury car.

“His girlfriend and a couple of friends still tried to dissuade him from driving, but the driver still chose to take the risk. On the avenue, he traveled at more than 150 km/h, hitting a car driven by an app driver, who died. The victim who was in the passenger seat of the luxury car suffered very serious injuries, remaining in the ICU for ten days, with organ loss,” the Public Ministry said in a statement.

The businessman was charged with possible intent, which is when the person assumes the risk for their actions. Qualified intentional homicide carries a sentence of 12 to 30 years in prison, and very serious bodily injury can increase the total sentence by one sixth.

Accident

On the night of the accident, the businessman had had dinner at a restaurant where, according to investigations, he had a few drinks before going to a poker house that operated as an open bar.

Upon leaving the scene, he drove the Porsche at high speed and hit a Renault Sandero on Avenida Salim Farah Maluf, East Zone of São Paulo, at around 2:30 am on March 31. The speed limit on the road is 50 km/h.

After the accident, the businessman, with the help of his mother, Daniela Cristina de Medeiro Andrade, left the scene without taking a breathalyzer test. Cameras used by Military Police teams captured the moment when the woman says she is going to take her son to the hospital, claiming that “every minute counts”.

However, police officers later went to the hospital recommended by his mother, but found no record of him entering the unit. Fernando only presented himself to the police on the afternoon of the 1st.