Sergeant joked about strangulation while dealing with domestic assault

A police sergeant joked about strangulation while dealing with a domestic assault against a young mother who was later found dead at home, an inquest heard.

Daniela Espirito Santo, 23, died while she was on hold to police for eight minutes while reporting an assault by ex-partner Julio Jesus, an inquest jury heard.

A coroner heard that hours before the mother-of-two was found unresponsive in April 2020, custody sergeant Pete Andrews made a joke about strangulation while discussing the case with a colleague.

Mr Jesus had been arrested a day before Ms Espirito Sano died over an allegation he had pinned her down and pushed his arm against her throat. He was held in custody for questioning before he was bailed the same evening with instructions to stay away from her address.

Shaheen Rahman, representing Ms Espirito Santo’s family, referenced a transcript of a conversation between PC Matthew Fromm and Sgt Andrews that had been taken from CCTV footage while Mr Jesus was in custody.

PC Fromm, who had attended the incident that morning, referenced the alleged strangulation of Ms Espirito Santo and another case and stated, ‘that seems to be two in two days’.

‘Three including my missus,’ Sgt Andrews replied, with the transcript stating the officer had put his hand to his throat.

Addressing Sgt Andrews, Ms Rahman said: ‘You simply didn’t take the risk to Daniela seriously.’

Sgt Andrews said it was an ‘off-the-cuff comment’ in relation to his ‘own marital problems’.

‘I sincerely apologise to the family,’ he added.

The Lincoln inquest jury heard Mr Jesus, now 34, broke his bail conditions by calling Ms Espirito Santo and returning to their property later that evening, the inquest heard.

She called 999 to report another domestic incident at 23:21 BST the same day.

The court heard Ms Espirito Santo tell 999 call handler Anthony Nunns she was ‘covered in redness’ and that Mr Jesus was ‘pushing me out the way and stuff like that’.

Mr Nunns advised Ms Espirito Santo to call 101 - the force’s non-emergency number - as he ‘identified there was no immediate risk’ because Mr Jesus had left the property.

Officers were then sent to the property when Mr Nunns realised the address had a ‘critical marker’ next to it.

After being on hold for eight minutes, Ms Espirito Santo was put through to a 101 call handler just after 11.30pm that night. But all the handler could hear were the cries of Ms Espirito Santo’s six-month-old baby.

An ambulance was called and CPR performed, but the mother was pronounced dead at just before 1am on April 9 2020.

A report from pathologist Dr Francis Hollingbury highlighted that the post-mortem examination showed Ms Espirito Santo, who suffered from a heart condition known as myocarditis, died as a ‘result of acute deterioration of the heart’.

Dr Hollingbury’s report found that Ms Espirito Santo suffered injuries to her forehead, cheek and jaw before her death and that she also had bruising on her breast and right arm. No drugs or alcohol were found in her system.

The inquest has previously heard that Ms Espirito Santo first reported Mr Jesus to the police in May 2019 following a verbal domestic incident where he had refused to leave.

Following that incident a PC completed a domestic assault, stalking and harassment (DASH) form and during that assessment, Ms Espirito Santo said Mr Jesus had slapped and choked her. This was not investigated due to strangulation at the time being considered common assault and past the deadline for reporting.

Sgt Andrews told the court he had not been aware of the prior history and admitted that he might have reconsidered Mr Jesus’s bail if he had known.

The inquest continues.