Bruno Fernandes de Souza hadn’t even been out of jail for a month before Brazilian soccer club Boa Esporte signed him as their goalkeeper. Now, most of us are all for giving someone a second chance after a mistake. But this wasn’t a simple infraction. Bruno was convicted of having his girlfriend killed and then feeding her body to dogs — it doesn’t get any less humane than that.
Bruno only served seven years of a 22-year-sentence after his lawyers secured his release on a petition of habeas corpus. Yet, this is only the latest example in a series of athletes who’ve been convicted of doing horrific crimes only to return to their on-field glory.
For example, Lee Hughes, who played for England’s West Brom, was sentenced to six years in prison for dangerous driving that resulted in a death. He returned to the field in 2007. Then, there’s American football’s notorious example of Michael Vick, who came back after a dog fighting conviction to play for the Philadelphia Eagles, and the two game suspension handed to Ray Rice after he assaulted and knocked out his fiancee. The list goes on and on.
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If these were ordinary citizens, the chances of these people getting their sentences reduced would cause outrage – like the “good college boys” who’ve recently stood trial for grievous reasons. We would demand that they serve their whole sentence. That would be the first step towards some form of justice.
Next, we surely wouldn’t expect these people to just go back to their day jobs. We would expect some reformation, some show of remorse, some sign that we should accept them back into society. Bruno has shown none of that.
And yet, these people get a pass because they’re famous or talented or rich. We let them go back to what they’re doing. Sure, there are many people who are completely livid. A few sponsors have pulled their support from Boa Esporte for signing Bruno.
Bruno trains while women protest. Photo: @Newsweek_INT | Twitter
Still, we’ll forget about these people’s pasts in a little while. We’ll see them score for their teams and love them again. Society should only ever accept monsters back into their embrace once they’ve atoned for their sins.
Brazilian society is known for its mistreatment of women — it has among the highest rates of women murdered in the world. Women are naturally horrified by this development. Men, however, and the world itself should be joining them. No one should support teams that embrace this type of behavior. Protests should take place. The only way teams and clubs will learn to stop resigning these types of felons is if you hit them where it really hurts – their profits.
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