CAMARA

TAUNTON — A day after Laudalino Camara allegedly struck and killed a Seekonk woman with his GMC Yukon, prosecutors say Camara’s wife staged a car accident to cover up the damage by careening the same SUV into barriers and a light pole on Route 95.

The Oct. 14 hit-and-run accident killed 38-year-old Maria Aguiar as she walked on Chestnut Street with her 10-year-old daughter. The police had been searching for the driver of the sport-utility vehicle since then.

Yesterday at 9 a.m., the Seekonk police arrested Camara at his Seekonk business, American Granite, on Old Fall River Avenue.

Camara pleaded not guilty yesterday afternoon in District Court, Taunton, to charges of motor-vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of an accident with a death resulting. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Camara was ordered held at the Bristol County House of Correction in New Bedford on $1.125-million bail, with surety.

Camara’s lawyer, James Fagan, had requested bail of $50,000 with surety and said that Camara’s wife, Maria, had $5,000 in cash ready to pay her husband’s bail. Fagan has appealed the bail and a hearing will be held on Tuesday.

Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter and Seekonk Police Chief Ronald R. Charron called the Camaras’ efforts to allegedly cover up a homicide “unusual.”

“It appears to be a callous attempt to cover up what happened that night,” Charron said after the arraignment.

Camara, of 626 Prospect St., Pawtucket, a Portuguese national, used an interpreter at his arraignment and stood expressionless as Assistant District Attorney Patrick Bomberg presented the case against him to Judge Daniel O’Shea.

Aguiar, of 155 Chestnut St. — a mother of three children ages 15, 10 and 2 — was walking at about 6:22 p.m. with her daughter Meghan, who was riding a bicycle, when Camara allegedly sped past in his SUV, nearly striking Meghan, Bomberg said. When Meghan turned to warn her mother, she watched as Camara allegedly struck her mother head-on with his car, throwing her onto the SUV’s hood, breaking both her legs and tearing her aorta. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

“He never stopped, he never braked,” Bomberg told the judge. “The defendant struck Maria Aguiar, he knew he struck Maria Aguiar, and he left.”

Camara allegedly continued home, greeting his wife at about 6:45 p.m.

The next day, Oct. 15, the Pawtucket and Cumberland police responded to a single-car accident on Route 95 South in Pawtucket. Bomberg said the police concluded that Maria Camara allegedly twice intentionally crashed the SUV into Jersey barriers and then a light pole.

Maria Camara told the police that she had been heading to Pawtucket City Hall to pay taxes but felt dizzy and was driving home, Bomberg said. The Camaras’ house is in the opposite direction, however.

Laudalino Camara took the SUV to an East Providence body shop where the vehicle had been repaired just two days before allegedly hitting Aguiar. He acted nervous as he repeatedly told the body-shop owner to keep the SUV inside the garage, Bomberg said.

But on Oct. 20, a woman living near the shop spotted the damaged SUV and called the Seekonk police, who had asked the public’s help in finding the driver.

“We received 42 tips,” Chief Charron said. “The 43rd tip led to this arrest. We would not have found this vehicle without this tip.”

Paint chips taken from the scene and from the body shop matched those from Camara’s SUV, Bomberg said.

Also found at the body shop was a human right incisor tooth. An autopsy report showed that Aguiar was missing one tooth, a right incisor. Prosecutors are awaiting DNA test results to confirm whether the tooth is a match.

Camara has two drunken-driving conditions and a number of driving violations, Bomberg said..

In arguing for a lower bail, Fagan said all of Camara’s ties are in Pawtucket, where he has lived for 19 years.

“He’s a worker,” Fagan said of his client, a mason and granite cutter. “He advised me that he was embarrassed to appear before your honor, dressed this way” in his work clothes, including a rust-orange shirt.

Aguiar’s husband, Jose, his eyes brimming with tears, sat quietly during Camara’s nearly hour-long arraignment with his oldest son, Brian, and his wife’s sisters. The family declined to speak to the media after the proceeding.

“I extend my deepest sympathy to the family,” Sutter said. “They are very worried and very concerned about Maria’s 10-year-old daughter, who watched her mother killed.”

Camara is due in Superior Court on Dec. 10 for a probable cause hearing.

mwims@projo.com