Revealed: Cecilia Haddad's final panicked phone call to father
The father of Brazilian woman Cecilia Haddad has broken his silence, revealing his final panicked phone call with his daughter before she was murdered in Sydney.
Through tears, he revealed to 7 News that Cecilia Haddad was scared of her ex-boyfriend, Mario Marcelo Santoro, the man still being questioned by Brazilian police.
“She called me and said, ‘Dad, stay on the line because I’m arriving home and I’m not sure if he has left because he could have made a copy of the keys and he could be inside … so please stay on the line’,” Jose Ibrahim Haddad Jr told 7 News via a translator.
Mr Haddad said he waited on the line until Cecilia told him to go to bed, that “everything is fine”.
Tragically, he would never see her again.
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Vision has emerged of Santoro arriving at Rio’s international airport on April 29 – the same day Cecilia’s body was discovered in the Lane Cove River.
Mr Haddad believes Santoro flew back to Brazil in the belief that the country wouldn’t extradite him.
He didn’t realise, however, that they would build their own case against him.
Santoro’s arrest blindsided Australian police, who were secretly planning to drag the dual citizen back through Italy.
Sydney detectives are due to arrive in Rio any day now, but it’s not clear if they’ll get an opportunity to question Santoro.
What they will have a chance to do is bring local police the Australian brief of evidence.
Foreign Affairs minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government was “working closely” with the Brazilian government to ensure “that justice is being served and that justice is being done”.
