Doctors plan to remove some needles from pin-cushion boy
Source: Agencies |
December 19, 2009, Saturday
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DOCTORS prepared yesterday to perform emergency surgery on a Brazilian toddler to remove some of the 42 sewing needles that were allegedly inserted into him by his stepfather during a series of bizarre rituals.
Surgeons in the northeastern city of Salvador plan to take out a needle that punctured the 2-year-old boy's heart and others threatening vital organs, said Susy Moreno, a spokesman at the hospital where the boy is being treated.
"This operation is to remove the most threatening sewing needles," Moreno said. "More operations may be necessary."
Police say the boy's stepfather confessed to pushing 42 supposedly "blessed" sewing needles deep into the child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a period of a month to try to keep the couple together, the stepfather told police.
Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter into trances and "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body," police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said.
The lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, paid to have the needles measuring up to 5 centimeters blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, and convinced Magalhaes that inserting them into the boy would somehow allow them to be together, Santana said.
Police, however, believe Dos Santos was out for revenge on the boy's mother, though they did not say why.
"According to his confession, he acted under influence of the woman, but it was he who stuck the needles in the boy's body," Santana said.
Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges have yet been filed.
Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe she came up with the idea of the rituals on her own, Santana said.
The two were taken to an undisclosed lockup for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held. It was not immediately clear whether they had legal representation.
Authorities also detained the woman who blessed the needles so she could be questioned, but Santana said he expects she will be released without charge because she did not know how they were being used.
Surgeons in the northeastern city of Salvador plan to take out a needle that punctured the 2-year-old boy's heart and others threatening vital organs, said Susy Moreno, a spokesman at the hospital where the boy is being treated.
"This operation is to remove the most threatening sewing needles," Moreno said. "More operations may be necessary."
Police say the boy's stepfather confessed to pushing 42 supposedly "blessed" sewing needles deep into the child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a period of a month to try to keep the couple together, the stepfather told police.
Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter into trances and "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body," police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said.
The lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, paid to have the needles measuring up to 5 centimeters blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, and convinced Magalhaes that inserting them into the boy would somehow allow them to be together, Santana said.
Police, however, believe Dos Santos was out for revenge on the boy's mother, though they did not say why.
"According to his confession, he acted under influence of the woman, but it was he who stuck the needles in the boy's body," Santana said.
Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges have yet been filed.
Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe she came up with the idea of the rituals on her own, Santana said.
The two were taken to an undisclosed lockup for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held. It was not immediately clear whether they had legal representation.
Authorities also detained the woman who blessed the needles so she could be questioned, but Santana said he expects she will be released without charge because she did not know how they were being used.
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