Man is convicted of beating his wife to death in an indigenous camp in Acre

Josimar Pereira Kulina was sentenced to 16 years, 7 months and 15 days in prison for the feminicide of his wife, Maria Zeza Kulina, in Acre.

At the time, the defendant tried to simulate the victim's suicide, a version contested by neighbors. He was even charged with procedural fraud, but ended up acquitted of that charge.

According to investigations, the indigenous woman suffered head trauma after being attacked with the handle of a machete. The judge ordered the immediate execution of the sentence.

More than two years after the crime, Josimar Pereira Kulina was sentenced to 16 years, seven months and 15 days in prison for the femicide of his wife, Maria Zeza Kulina, who was beaten to death in a camp in Feijó, in the interior of Acre.

At the time of the crime, he even told the police that the woman had hanged herself, and that he was not in the tent at the time of her death. Josimar is represented in the process by the State Public Defender's Office of Acre (DPE-AC), which usually does not comment on the cases.

The suicide version, however, was contested by neighbors who accused the husband of having killed his wife and trying to simulate a suicide. He was arrested soon after as the main suspect, but the arrest was overturned in July of that year.

Josimar was even charged with procedural fraud due to the attempt to simulate his wife's suicide, but was acquitted of the charge. Judge Robson Ribeiro Aleixo, from the Criminal Court of Feijó, ordered the immediate execution of the sentence and the protection of the couple's minor children by competent bodies.

The complaint presented by the Public Ministry of Acre (MP-AC) was received by the judiciary in April 2025.

"The consequences of the crime are unfavorable. The victim left children who were minors at the time of the incident, [...] deprived of their mother in full formation. The orphanhood of minor children exceeds the typical result of homicide and authorizes the exasperation of the base penalty", cited the magistrate when preparing the sentence.

According to the Civil Police, the woman was beaten to death after an argument with her husband. Investigations indicate that the two were drinking alcoholic beverages when they started arguing. Josimar Kulina picked up a machete and started hitting the victim in the face with the handle of the weapon.

According to the police, the indigenous woman suffered several blows to the face and also to the back of the head, which caused head trauma.

The indigenous health doctor who worked in the municipality at the time was at the police station and declared that, apparently, the victim was killed by trauma to the head, and, at first, ruled out death by hanging.

The report from the Legal Medical Institute (IML) of Cruzeiro do Sul also attested that the cause of death was due to the beating the victim received.