Family members of Camila da Silva Lira, 16, who died after being shot at least nine times, in an apartment in Bom Retiro, central São Paulo, await the trial of the accused perpetrator of the crime, Chinese national Zhenhua Wu, 34. Camila lived in the Federal District before moving to the capital, São Paulo, and maintained a romantic relationship with the accused for approximately one year at the time of the crime. The case took place in September 2024.
Watch Camila’s mother’s interview:
Zhenhua Wu is awaiting trial in detention. He will face a popular jury in the Sao Paulo State Court of Justice on charges of premeditated murder. The date is set for February 19, 2026.
With a heavy heart and weakened by a sense of impunity, the victim’s mother, Roberta da Silva Santos, 43, is advocating for the maximum sentence for the attacker.
Roberta said: “Justice for Camilla. I hope he never pays more or less than his punishment. What he should take into consideration is that he destroyed my family and my life. He took the best part of me. May my daughter rest with the Lord.”
10 photos
Conditional closure.
1 out of 10
The crime occurred in São Paulo
Breno Esaki / Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto2 of 10
Roberta da Silva Santos, the young woman’s mother, talks about her daughter and the murderer’s trial
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto3 of 10
Before moving to the capital, São Paulo, Camila lived with her family in the Federal District
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto4 of 10
Teenager Camila da Silva Lira, 16, was shot dead by a Chinese businessman
Breno Esaki / Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto5 out of 10
Camilla was 16 years old
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto6 of 10
The family wants maximum punishment for the accused
Breno Esaki / Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto7 of 10
The Chinese Zhenhua Wu who killed Kamila goes to the people’s jury
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiPhoto8 of 10
A mother suffers from the loss of her daughter
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto9 of 10
Roberta lives in Samambaya (DF) and will go to the SP to personally accompany the jury
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiPhoto10 out of 10
Camilla was brutally murdered in an apartment in SP
Breno Esaki/Metropolis @BrenoEsakiFoto
Read also
-
Sao Paulo
A 16-year-old female homicide victim has been identified at the centre
-
Sao Paulo
Man arrested for murder of women after shooting woman in SP
sadness
Camila lived in the Qatar National Library, in Taguatinga Norte (DF), before she went to São Paulo and left behind her mother and three brothers: one older and two younger.
Without her presence, her family chose to leave the old house she used to live in with them, but the memory of the teenager remains omnipresent. Grief among relatives is common. Domestic worker Renata da Silva Santos, 39, the victim’s aunt, is closely following the case and demanding justice.
“We’re keen that he doesn’t get away with it,” Renata said. “He’s really paying for what he did, with a fair punishment. Because we’re not going to get my niece back, unfortunately. She’s not coming back. But he has to pay.”
From the family’s perspective, Camilla’s violent death came suddenly. It is not known whether the victim was aware of her fate. Family members, of course, could not have imagined this.
In the Federal District, even at a young age, Camilla worked at events and in a catering company to help with the family income.
In this way, on one of these occasions, the young woman met the Chinese businessman Zhenhua Wu, according to her mother.
The mother said: “Camila attended an event in October 2023 at a business party and met this man. She came home impressed. She told me that he had ‘opened up a world of opportunities’ and offered her a better life in the capital, São Paulo. I was against that and she started a relationship with him, hidden from me. After a period of insistence, she told me that she would go to São Paulo with or without my consent.”
Roberta says she has decided to let the young woman go and see the city, but on the condition that she returns. “My daughter introduced me to some friends who were going with her and they traveled by car with other family members, in December 2023. I decided to let her go so that she would not run away from home. While she was staying in SP, things started getting out of control.”
After the teenager returned to Brasilia, the situation became completely out of control, according to her mother. “Everything bad started happening inside the house. I felt a heavy energy. We lost our car, things in the house were broken and we didn’t even have food to eat. Camila told me she would run away if I didn’t free her.”
The two even sought emancipation but were unable to make the registration official. In this way, Camila convinced her mother that she would go to São Paulo to work as a waitress and nanny, despite her mother’s concerns about the girl’s age and the dangers of the big city.
In February last year, the young woman moved to SP for good. Roberta learns that the young woman works in fancy casinos and earns a lot of money. During this period, the young woman continued to come to Brasilia on memorial occasions to visit her family. She also had plastic surgery on her nose.
Based on conversations she had with her daughter, Roberta learned that the teen lived with another young woman in the Liberdade neighborhood and described Camila’s Chinese partner as aggressive and impatient. Despite not living together, the Chinese man also had free access to the apartment where the teenager lived. He did not speak Portuguese and the victim’s aunt says she also noticed that Camila was studying Mandarin to better communicate with the man and had plans to travel to China.
Roberta learned of her daughter’s death on Sunday morning, after a detective from São Paulo called her. But the news had already been circulating in the local media in São Paulo since the early hours of Saturday, September 14, the date of the crime.
After his death, Roberta discovered that Zhenhua Wu had a wife and children residing in China. On several occasions, when a defendant’s defense filed habeas corpus requests, the main argument used was that family members were financially dependent on the defendant.
crime
The Chinese man was caught red-handed on the day of the crime. Wu claimed in his testimony that he fired in self-defense. He said he had already met the teen on other occasions, and that that morning she had tried to get a gun to kill him, prompting him to respond and shoot her.
Police also reported that while responding to the incident, the suspect was sitting on the ground, appearing mentally disoriented and unresponsive.
Find out who the Chinese businessman is:
Zhenhua Wu
The victim was found naked and lying on the ground, with the murder weapon next to his head and several ammunition capsules scattered around the place.
Zhenhua was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm. The businessman’s weapon, an unregistered pistol of Turkish origin, was restricted for use.
The family believes that Camila’s murder may be linked to her knowledge of the Chinese man’s business in Brazil.
The teenager’s body was buried in the Campo da Esperanca cemetery in Taguatinga, on September 19, 2024.
The mother said: “My daughter was very caring, present and a dreamer. She was always in touch with me and really wanted to live a better life than the one we had. She was arrogant and longed for great accomplishments. Unfortunately, she did not know how to see the danger that surrounded her. She was not coming back, and he had to pay for what he did. Don’t let any other victim go through the same thing.”
The report called for the defendant’s defense, but he did not comment on the matter until this report was published. Space remains open for positioning.
About The Author
