Renato Seabra, the convicted killer of
Portuguese gay journalist Carlos Castro, was sentenced on Friday.
Seabra, a 23-year-old former fashion
model, was sentenced to serve 25 years to life in prison for
second-degree murder, The
New York Times reported.
“On that day, I don't know what took
me over,” he said in Portuguese. “I did not understand the
manner and how things happened, and I could not understand why.”
Seabra reportedly confessed to
officials that he killed Castro in a fit of rage on January 7, 2011 in the
Inter-Continental New York Times Square Hotel room that the pair
shared. He bludgeoned to death and castrated with a wine corkscrew
the 65-year-old Castro as the men vacationed over the New York
holiday.
While Seabra's mother has said her son
is not gay, the prosecutor, Maxine Rosenthal, argued that the murder
was the result of Castro breaking off the relationship.
“The defendant killed Carlos Castro
when Carlos told him the relationship was over,” she said.
Seabra earned fame on the
Portuguese reality talent contest A Procura Do Sonho, or
Pursuit of a Dream. He didn't win the contest but was signed
to a modeling contract.
Castro had written articles and books
about fashion and was a vocal gay rights advocate.