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Male Model Sentenced To 25-to-Life For Killing Lover in Times Square

By Aidan Gardiner | December 21, 2012 4:20pm | Updated on December 21, 2012 4:25pm

NEW YORK CITY — The Portuguese model who was convicted for brutally murdering his lover in a Times Square hotel room was convicted Friday to 25 years to life, the maximum sentence possible.

Renato Seabra begged for sympathy after he was sentenced for using a computer screen to bash in journalist Carlo Castro's head, stomping his face, and castrating him in January 2011. 

"I just want to request the opportunity to ask for forgiveness to Carlos Castro's family and friends," he said, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's office. "On that day I don't know what took over me. I did not understand the manner — how things happened, and I could not understand why."

Seabra's attorneys had tried to argue that he wasn't responsible for his actions because he suffered a psychotic break on the night of the attack.

He told cops he was "making the world a better place" by killing Castro, and castrated him to rid the world of the "virus" of homosexuality, according to court documents.

He said his victim's genitals were "demons" that needed to be removed in order to restore harmony to the world.

After the attack, he showered, donned a suit, slit his wrists, and walked out onto the streets to continue "God's mission," documents show.

But the insanity argument didn't work and during the sentencing hearing Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel Fitzgerald said Seabra had full responsibility for his actions, the New York Post reported.

"Here an argument escalated from anger to rage to really a chilling example of man's inhumanity to man," FitzGerald said according to the Post. "There was extreme brutality, sadism and dehumanizing acts."