‘We want to forge ahead’: grief and defiance as Dom Phillips’ widow journeys to site of his death

Dom Phillips’ widow Alessandra Sampaio joins hands with members of the Matis and Marubo peoples around a kapok tree during a visit to Indigenous communities. Photograph: João Laet/The Guardian

Alessandra Sampaio fell to her knees and wept as she clambered on to the boat’s deck and came face to face with the remote riverside clearing where her husband’s life was extinguished and hers turned upside down.

The sound of Sampaio’s lament mixed with birdsong and the voice of an Indigenous shaman echoed through the jungle where the British journalist, Dom Phillips, and his Brazilian comrade Bruno Pereira were shot dead in June 2022.