A tycoon who killed his wife during a bitter divorce has walked free from court again 23 years after he gunned her down and tried to fake her suicide.

Mega wealthy Sergio Nahas, now 73, shot his wife dead in their luxurious apartment in an exclusive enclave in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2002.

After years of appeals and legal arguments he was finally convicted of murder in 2018 and sentenced to seven years behind bars.

He appealed the conviction for three years but in 2021 Supreme Court judges confirmed the conviction and increased the sentence to eight years and two months.

Nahas appealed again but last week, Brazil's Supreme Federal Court upheld the verdict and sentence again, local media reported on 20th May.

Now it has emerged the businessman is still on the loose while his lawyers are expected to file yet another appeal.

Under Brazilian law a defendant can't be jailed until the entire appeal process has been exhausted.

Nahas shot his wife 28-year-old Fernanda Orfalidead dead, prosecutors said, because he was afraid she would expose his drug taking in their bitter divorce.

He had claimed that Fernanda had committed suicide but firearms experts proved it would have been impossible for her to have shot herself at that angle.

Forensics experts also found no trace of gunpowder residue on her hands or clothes.

Prosecutors argued that Nahas had staged the scene to resemble a suicide before calling emergency services.

The continued freedom of Fernanda's killer has dismayed her family.

They said in a statement: "The victim's father died without seeing justice being done.

"Her mother is in poor health after years of calling for justice."

(MJ Leidig/newsX)