Dad in jail for smothering daughter, 4, to death has sentence reduced by 22 YEARS

Ricardo Krause has had his 24-year jail sentence reduced to just 18 months after appeal following his daughter's death when she was smothered by a plastic bag in Sao Paulo, Brazil

A dad sentenced to 24 years behind bars for smothering his four-year-old daughter to death with a plastic bag has had his sentence massively reduced.

A retrial has sentenced chef Ricardo Krause to just 18 months in jail after judges ruled he had not intended to kill his daughter.

The new hearing overturned the original 2018 verdict and sentence.

His daughter Sophia Kissajikian Cancio Najjar died at the family home in Jabaquara, in the South Zone of Sao Paulo, in Brazil, in 2015.

At the time, just she and her father were at home and judges at his original trial rejected his defence that she had died while playing with the bag.

But judges at the Sao Paulo Court of Justice overturned the original sentence in 2020.

And now a new hearing - on May 24 and 25 - has massively reduced his sentence.

Judges accepted a reduced charge of manslaughter and sentenced Kraus to just 18 months and 20 days in prison.

The court determined that he had not intended to kill his daughter.

But Sophia's mother, Ligia Kissajikian Cancio, has slammed the decision, with the prosecution immediately appealing it.

She said: "Our family is very sad not to feel that justice has been served in this case.

"We are not satisfied with the decision, we have already decided to appeal and I would like to say that I will continue to fight for justice."

Sophia was found asphyxiated with a plastic bag over her head at the family home in December 2015.

Krause's lawyers had argued at the time that she had died as a result of a "domestic accident" while playing with the bag.

Krause was arrested shortly after his daughter's funeral and spent a year in prison before being freed before his trial.

He was arrested again in March 2017 before being tried and sentenced to 24 years and 10 months in prison for intentional homicide in 2018.

Police established that at the time of Sophia's death her father was the only other person at home and there were no signs of a break-in.

Krause had always claimed his innocence and said that he had been taking a shower at the time his daughter died.

His lawyer said he only saw her with a bag over her head when he came out of the bathroom.

The new verdict can be appealed and is not final.

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