Dana Leonte's brother points at defendant during trial: 'As far as I'm concerned, he's my sister's murderer'

The first witness to give evidence that day was her brother, Florín, who was unequivocal from the very start of his testimony. "As far as I'm concerned, he is my sister's murderer," he said, pointing at defendant Sergio R., with whom the victim had had a baby just a few months before she went missing.

During his testimony, Florín explained that his relationship with Dana had become "more difficult" following her relationship with the defendant. "Once they got together, she changed a lot." Florín said that, the last time he saw her alive, two days before her disappearance, they fought. "I'd heard that he'd been in previous relationships where he hadn't behaved well," the victim's brother said.

Florín was aware that the couple were going through a difficult period. "My mother lived with them for a week and she told me that he wasn't treating her well, that it wasn't normal and that they were having a lot of arguments. I know there had been some very serious arguments," he said.

When questioned by the defence about a complaint that Dana had filed against him, Florín said he believed she had made it with Sergio, "perhaps under threat", and that the police had never taken it seriously. "He wanted to be alone with her because he was very jealous," he stated.

According to his testimony, after the woman's whereabouts became unknown, it was the defendant himself who contacted him to say that Dana had left of her own accord for Romania. The defendant gave Florín a different account, claiming that Dana had returned to the flat the following day, 13 June, to collect money and clothes.

However, Florín categorically ruled out this possibility: "My sister would never have left without her daughter." He also said that Dana did not have her documents with her. In the days that followed, the defendant gave contradictory explanations, referring to "an alleged loan shark" and claiming that there were witnesses who had seen Dana "being forced into a car".

Florín was also struck by the defendant's immediate actions after losing track of Dana. He highlighted that Sergio had "cleared out the bar" Dana ran and told the staff that the premises were closing for good because he was sure she was not coming back.

Florín currently holds custody of his niece. "I just want justice to be done for my sister, because we've been through so much."

During this second session of the trial, several friends and acquaintances of both the victim and the defendant also gave evidence. One of them, a tobacco supplier to Dana's bar, explained that she had confided in him on several occasions about her relationship problems. "She once told me she was being abused, although I don't know whether it was physical or psychological."

Although he did not actually see any injuries, the witness noted that he found it striking that she sometimes wore "a great deal of make-up", which was unusual for someone so young. He also remembered her as a hard-working and kind person: "She wanted to start her own business, expand her business and set something up." According to him, Dana had never shown any signs of wanting to leave the village.

Another witness, a friend of the victim, stated that Dana had told her that "as soon as she could, she would rent a flat" because she did not want to live with the defendant. Dana only stayed with him "for the sake of the little girl".

The two nannies looking after the child also gave evidence. The first said that Dana had spent a few days at her home with the baby because the water and electricity had been cut off at Dana's home. Although Dana did not explicitly mention any abuse, the witness did notice a scratch between the baby's neck and chest.

She also explained that, after several days without hearing from her, she sent Dana a voice message to which she did not reply. It was Sergio who eventually rang her to say that Dana had left the baby with him. "100 per cent, she would not have left without her daughter. Everything she did was for her," the woman stated.

The baby's most recent nanny explained that she had been in direct contact with Dana on the afternoon of her disappearance. At around 8pm, she received a message in which the victim asked her to look after the little girl for a few more hours because "she'd been robbed". Later, when she asked what time they would be coming to collect her, she was told that Sergio would be coming.

The witness stated that the words in those texts had been abbreviated in a way that was unusual for Dana's style of typing and she was struck by the fact that the Sergio turned up to collect the girl having just had a shower, with wet hair and clean street clothes, when he would normally have been wearing his work clothes.

Later, when she asked the defendant about Dana, Sergio told her she was at the bar, but she found that it was closed, after which Sergio told her that Dana had left for Romania.

The nanny also recalled a previous incident in which the victim had gone to her with a scratch on her chest and told her that she had been hit by her partner, but that she had managed to escape by flagging down a car on the road and that she intended to report him. "She had so many dreams and so many plans," the witness stated.

A former partner of Sergio's and the mother of his other daughter also gave evidence. She described Sergio as "aggressive", "controlling" and violent towards animals. The woman explained that she had broken up with him after "a beating". She reported the incident but withdrew the complaint after reaching a custody agreement.

The woman said that Sergio had picked up their daughter the day after Dana had gone missing. According to what the girl later told her mother, during the journey Sergio stopped the car by some bushes to pick up a pair of boots and explained to her that he had left them there because "they smelled bad". That same day, again according to the child's account, the entrance to the living room of the defendant's home was strangely covered with a sheet and her father would not let her go in.

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