Two former bodyguards of Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen and her US football star husband Tom Brady have been jailed for five years for shooting at photographers in Costa Rica.
The shooting took place in April 2009 as the celebrity couple celebrated their wedding at a seaside home in Santa Teresa de Cobano, on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
A Puntarenas court found Costa Rican Miguel Solís and Colombian Alexánder Rivas guilty of attempted murder.
A third man – Manuel Valverde – was acquitted.
The court also ordered the defendants to pay five million colones (US$10,000) in damages in each of the two photographers. Neither defendant testified during the proceedings.
The photographers were confronted by the bodyguards, who demanded they hand over their camera memory cards.
As the photographers drove away, at least one of the bodyguards opened fire, according to the complaint. Neither photographer was hurt.
The Salvadoran photographer, Yuri Cortez, now asks American star Brady to comment on the case. “Justice has been served”, says Cortez. The photographer addedd that during the four years since the shooting, representatives of the bodyguards have been labelling him a “paparazzi”.
However, Cortez has for the last 22 years worked as a photographer for the Agence Presse France (AFP). At the time he was chief photographer for AFP Centrl America.
