NEW BEDFORD — An illegal immigrant told investigators he brutally executed his teenage daughter earlier this summer because she was dating a middle-aged man and because she didn’t spend Father’s Day with him, prosecutors say.

Following his capture in Connecticut last month, Walter DaSilva, 45, allegedly told police he promised his daughter, Sabrina DaSilva, that he “would see her in hell,” prosecutors said.

Sabrina DaSilva, a 19-year-old mother to a 2-year-old daughter, was shot in the face and multiple times in the back the night of July 3 as she returned to her Bedford Street apartment with groceries, police say.

At DaSilva’s arraignment today in New Bedford District Court, assistant Bristol District Attorney Robert Digiantomaso said the 19-year-old was shot during a confrontation with her father, a painter who was on probation for having tried to kill her mother Liliana Silva.

Digiantomaso said DaSilva, who was grinning in court, targeted his daughter after she failed to visit him on Father’s Day and he learned she had been dating an older man.

The prosecutor also said DaSilva was deported to Brazil after serving an 8- to 10-year state prison sentence, but snuck back into the United States through Mexico.

He was living in Connecticut under an assumed name when his daughter was killed, Digiantomaso said.

Officials believe he bought the alleged murder weapon from another man he met at a painting job site.

DaSilva’s attorney John Connor did not oppose his client remaining incarcerated.

Bristol District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III called the facts “chilling, especially when it’s alleged to be her father.”

When Digiantomaso pointed out the accused killer also had a US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainer on him, New Bedford District Court Judge James McGovern muttered aloud from the bench, “I would hope so.”

New Bedford Mayor Jon F. Mitchell said, “This was not an easy case to investigate. It was a despicable act, and one that really shocked our community. My prayers go out to Sabrina’s family. I want them to know the community has their back.”

McGovern ordered DaSilva, who pleaded not guilty, held without bail pending an Oct. 5 probable cause hearing.

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