Renato Seabra, a Portuguese model, is on trial on charges he castrated and killed Portuguese TV personality Carlos Castro. He used his lover's testicles as a talisman.
Renato Seabra, a Portuguese male model, said he was so tortured by his May-December romance with Carlos Castro that he beat him to death, castrated him with a corkscrew, then wore the dead man's manhood on his arms to harness what he believed was its healing powers, his defense lawyer said at Friday’s opening of the murder trial.
“He put one on each wrist," said lawyer Rubin Sinins said. "He did this for his protection. He could also harness the power. He wandered the streets of Manhattan, touching people, because he had the power to cure people from AIDS, because he had the power to cure them."
Seabra, 21, killed his 65-year-old lover — a noted Portuguese society journalist and gay activist — in a sudden psychotic onset, said the lawyer.
"He willingly told police. He wanted to explain why he killed Mr. Castro, because he thought what he had done was right."
Sinins asked the jury to return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, with the possibility of being committed to a psychiatric facility.
Manhattan prosecutors countered that the young man was just a temperamental gold digger who knew his gravy train was coming to an end.
Castro was supposed be Seabra's meal ticket, flying him to the Big Apple in Jan. 2011 with the promise of getting him work through a Manhattan modeling agency, prosecutors said.
"He wanted to pursue a career in modeling," said Assistant District Attorney Maxine Rosenthal.
"He want to be famous and make money. He also wanted nice things — clothes, electronics, gifts for his family. He wanted to eat in nice restaurants. When Carlos Castro showed up in Renato Seabra's life, he saw a means to an end and he got on board."
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