The body of the Brazilian woman shot dead by Lisbon police on November 15th, arrived in Paranavaí, northwest of Paraná in Brazil on Friday with the cost being covered by her employer, a restaurant at Lisbon airport.
Ivanice Carvalho da Costa was killed in a Public Security Police operation when armed officers mistook the black Renault Mégane, in which she was a passenger, as a black Seat Leon getaway car being used by a gang of cash machine robbers. Officers fired 40 rounds at the car and hit da Costa in the neck. She died at the scene.
The funeral will be held in the Community Hall of her home town of Amaporã after her body was released on November 17 and now has been returned to her native country. The transportation costs were paid by the restaurant where Ivanice Carvalho da Costa worked because the family could not afford the transportation fees and the chances of the government helping out are non-existent, despite a public employee being responsible for her needless death.
Ivanice was 36 years old and had lived in Portugal for 17 years.
Ivanice's mother, Maria Luzia Silva Carvalho da Costa, went to Paranavaí this morning to see her daughter's body after 15 days of waiting, "The anguish of waiting is over. It was two weeks of waiting, of sorrow, of anguish, of pain ... over."
Maria Luzia commented that “It was not what I wanted, that she came home like this, but that's how God wanted it."
Ivanice's death happened at dawn on November 15th as she was being driving to her work, a restaurant at Lisbon airport. The driver of the vehicle was her companion, who is also Brazilian and who had no valid driving license, nor car insurance which may explain why he did not stop at a police barrier that had been put in place after an ATM had been robbed and a group had escaped by car.
According to Diário de Notícias, Ivanice was the first civilian killed in a police action this year in Portugal.
In a statement, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry reported: "The Brazilian consular authorities have maintained contact with the citizen's family to provide assistance."
Eduardo Cabrita, the Portuguese Minister of Internal Affairs, announced that he had asked the General Inspectorate of Internal Administration to investigate the case, which he described as "unfortunate."
