17-07-2025
Doctor says SHE'S the victim after her husband 'took out a hit on her boytoy lover'
A doctor caught in the middle of a love triangle has denying any wrongdoing following the murder of her alleged lover.
Dr. Sabrina de Mello slammed the public for judging her without having direct knowledge of what led to the death of Ivan Bonotto, who was stabbed on March 22 at her husband's bar in Sorriso - a city in the west-central state of Mato Grosso - and died April 13 after going into cardiac arrest while hospitalized at Sorriso Regional Hospital.
'I, Sabrina Iara de Mello, a gynecologist and obstetrician in the city of Sorriso, express my profound indignation at the recent statements on social media from people unaware of the incident, accusing me of having an extramarital affair, covering up the murder of a lover, and slandering me without any basis in fact,' Dr. de Mello said in a statement that was posted on her Instagram account Thursday.
'These people ignore the facts, choosing to confuse my private life with a homicide that occurred, when there is no connection between these facts,' the mother-of-two said.
The Mato Gross Civil Police said Bonotto was set up by Dr. de Mello's husband, Gabriel Tacca, after he discovered that Bonotto, a longtime friend, his wife had been romantically involved.
Tacca invited Bonotto to the bar he owned and pretended to fight his friend, businessman Danilo Guimarães, who ended up stabbing Bonotto several times.
On Tuesday, police announced the arrests of Dr. de Mello, Tacca and Guimarães.
Dr. de Mello criticized the public for pinning Bonotto's death on her.
'Most people are choosing sides. And they chose the wrong side,' she said. 'These people don't condemn the confessed killer, but they make a fuss about invading my private life.'
Tacca and Guimarães voluntarily appeared before authorities in the days following Bonotto's stabbing.
Tacca claimed that the fight was sparked by argument over drinks and that he did not know who Bonotto was.
Guimarães told agents that he stabbed Bonotto in self-defense.
'They talk more about me than condemning the killer. I am a doctor,' Dr. de Mello said. 'When he arrived at the hospital, the entire hospital staff gave the victim their full support, in a pluralistic way, aiming to save his life.'
Authorities allege that Tacca instructed Dr. de Mello to sneak into Sorriso Regional Hospital and delete the video of the staged fight and attack that Bonotto filmed on his cell phone.
Video footage showed Dr. de Mello holding Bonotto's mobile device as she walked behind the hospital staff, who were transporting Bonotto to the operating room.
Dr. de Mello told investigators that she erased the video from Bonotto's phone because she wanted to 'protect the victim.'
The doctor, who owns works out of two offices in Sorriso and Tapurah, argued that she was never jailed.
'We reaffirm, as a woman and a doctor, the freedom of expression of people, but with responsibility and truth. I am not imprisoned,' she said. 'I was questioned and subsequently released, being investigated for alleged procedural fraud, an investigation that will open the way for adversarial proceedings and a full defense.
'Preempting judgments on people is dangerous. It denigrates their image and stifles freedom of expression through psychological torture,' she added. 'I humbly ask everyone to await the outcome of the investigation, refraining from making judgments, meaning, preemptively denying what happened.'
A surveillance video camera mounted on the garage of the Dr. de Mello's residence showed Bonotto pulling up in a motorcycle March 9.
They kissed for a moment before they walked into her home and did so again when they exited before he left.
Dr. de Mello stressed that Bonotto's murder and her personal life could not be tied together.
'There is no absolute connection between the homicide and my conduct regarding my private life,' she said. 'Pointing the finger at one side of the facts is not neutrality. It is complicity.'
