Doctors successfully complete operation on pin-cushion boy
Source: Agencies |
December 20, 2009, Sunday
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SURGEONS successfully removed the four most life-threatening needles from the lung and heart area of a Brazilian toddler, and are evaluating when to extract dozens more allegedly stuck deep into the boy by his stepfather.
Police say 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes confessed to pushing the metal sewing needles into the two-year-old child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a month supposedly to keep the couple together.
Late Friday, the child was in stable condition after nearly five hours of surgery to remove the four needles, which were up to 5 centimeters, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador where the boy was in intensive care.
"He's OK, the surgery was a success, he's doing fine," she said via telephone.
Dozens more needles remain inside the boy's body, but the four removed were considered the most life-threatening.
Doctors will evaluate the boy's recovery before deciding when to perform at least two more surgeries to remove more needles, she said.
Police say they believe the lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, told Magalhaes the ritual would keep them together, but she was really seeking revenge on Magalhaes' wife.
The bricklayer told detectives that dos Santos would enter into trances and give him commands to insert the needles, police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said. The stepfather told police the rituals happened every few days for a full month, with him inserting several needles during each session.
Dos Santos paid to have the needles blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, Santana said.
Authorities initially estimated the boy had as many as 50 needles inserted into his body. After many tests, doctors now believe there are closer to 30 needles inside, but they don't know for sure.
"They haven't focused on how many there are because they are concentrating on the most dangerous ones," Moreno said.
Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges were 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 boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in Ibotirama on December 10, saying he was complaining of pain.
Police say 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes confessed to pushing the metal sewing needles into the two-year-old child because his lover told him to while in trances. The rituals were performed over a month supposedly to keep the couple together.
Late Friday, the child was in stable condition after nearly five hours of surgery to remove the four needles, which were up to 5 centimeters, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador where the boy was in intensive care.
"He's OK, the surgery was a success, he's doing fine," she said via telephone.
Dozens more needles remain inside the boy's body, but the four removed were considered the most life-threatening.
Doctors will evaluate the boy's recovery before deciding when to perform at least two more surgeries to remove more needles, she said.
Police say they believe the lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, told Magalhaes the ritual would keep them together, but she was really seeking revenge on Magalhaes' wife.
The bricklayer told detectives that dos Santos would enter into trances and give him commands to insert the needles, police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said. The stepfather told police the rituals happened every few days for a full month, with him inserting several needles during each session.
Dos Santos paid to have the needles blessed by a woman who practiced the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomble, Santana said.
Authorities initially estimated the boy had as many as 50 needles inserted into his body. After many tests, doctors now believe there are closer to 30 needles inside, but they don't know for sure.
"They haven't focused on how many there are because they are concentrating on the most dangerous ones," Moreno said.
Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges were 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 boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in Ibotirama on December 10, saying he was complaining of pain.
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