Bizarre moment man uses cabbage leaf as facemask during interview about murdered girl

A man being interviewed about the harrowing murder of a 9-year-old girl did so wearing a cabbage leaf over his face to 'protect' from coronavirus.

The journalist makes no mention of the makeshift face mask as he quizzes him on camera for Portuguese TV.

His interviewee, a neighbour of the victim's family, was being asked about Valentina Fonseca, whose body was found covered by shrubs in a field two weeks ago in Peniche, Portugal.

Her dad, 32, and step-mum, 38, were later arrested on suspicion of homicide and hiding a cadaver, following a major police search for the missing child.

Valentina had been reported missing in Peniche on Thursday, May 7 and her body was found three days later.

The neighbour described the arrested couple as “very discreet” during his bizarre interview.

The journalist had to later confirm the clip was genuine, given the seriousness of the crime being discussed.

Alberto Mancebo, a correspondent in Portugal for a Galician radio station, said in a tweet: “How can I explain this! The interview is real.

“The man wasn’t joking, and yes, it was broadcast live to the whole of Portugal on TV station Correio da Maha about something that had happened in Peniche.”

Fernando Jordao, the coordinator of the Judiciary Police’s Criminal Investigation Department in Leiria, said the girl may have been killed on the day she went missing, with her body being taken to the field at the end of the day.

 Valentina normally lived with the mother Sonia Fonseca but had been with her father "for some time" during the covid-19 pandemic.

Ms Fonseca had written on social media before her body was found: “Oh my God, my love, my princess another night has passed, another day has come and more endless hours...

"My daughter, my princess, my angel, my love, my everything please come back to us, we are desperate.

"Come back into our arms for the love of God.”