Elber Nunes Zacheu was sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison for murdering Tieli Alves, the girlfriend of UFC fighter Raulian Paiva, in Santana, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2018. This also included attempted murder charges against Paiva, and hitting a man with a bottle.
Paiva and Alves left a nightclub after Zacheu and another man, Johny de Souza Amoras, wanted to fight him. Paiva stopped his motorcycle at a red light and was hit by the car. Alves’ helmet went off on the fall, and she was dragged by the car for “at least 65 feet.” Alves died eventually.
Zacheu was in the passenger’s seat of the car that hit Paiva’s motorcycle from behind. Zacheu, a 32-year-old hairdresser, was also sentenced to pay R$ 35,000 to Alves’ family, Paiva and the man hit with the bottle.
“That’s not enough time for what he did, the crime he committed, but justice is being done,” Paiva told MMA Fighting. “Justice is flawed in Brazil, but I hope he pays for what he did. We can’t do anything else. We’re happy he’ll be in prison. Not for long, but he will be in prison. Nothing will bring Tieli back to life, but at least he’ll stay in prison for 16 years.
“Now we’ll wait for Johny’s trial next year, and we hope he gets at least 20 years. He’s the one that was driving the car and did what he did to us.”