Abused boy end first needle surgery

[Erna]

http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=nw20091219115957265C747450

Abused boy end first needle surgery

19 December 2009

Rio De Janeiro - Brazilian doctors on Friday successfully removed four sewing needles near the heart and lungs of a two-year-old boy who was victim of a ritualistic attack at the hands of his former stepfather.

It was the first of a series of operations to remove some 30 needles that were inserted up and down the boy's body, in what his former guardian confessed was part of his revenge on his ex-wife.

The operation "lasted four hours, ending at 8.00pm (01.00 GMT on Saturday) and was a success," said a spokeswoman for the Ana Nery Hospital in Salvador de Bahia, where the operation was carried out by five physicians and an anaesthesiologist.

"The boy is fine. They removed two needles from his left lung and another two from around the heart. They were the most life-threatening" of the needles inside him, the spokeswoman told AFP.

Two more operations are planned to take out needles lodged in the boy's torso and neck, but no date has been set for the surgeries, with doctors saying it would depend on the child's condition.

"Many organs have been affected, and there could be further risk of infection. The procedures themselves could pose a risk of death," Francisco Reis, director of the Ana Neri hospital, warned before the operation.

The hospital said they had identified about 30 needles lodged inside the child, not 50 as initially reported.

The boy's former stepfather confessed to police Thursday to inserting the needles as part of "black magic" rituals aimed at exacting revenge on his ex-wife.

Police said Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, 30, had confessed to sticking two or three needles into the boy every day and said he was helped by two women who have denied the accusation but are under temporary arrest.

The boy, who has not been named because of his age, was rushed by helicopter on Thursday to Bahia's main city Salvador for emergency operations to remove the needles, although doctors said an infection near his heart prevented immediate surgery.

The boy's 38-year-old mother, Maria Souza Santos, was with her son. She first took him to a local hospital in Barreiras when one of the needles perforated his lung, causing him to vomit.

The metallic objects - some measuring up to five centimetres (two inches) in length - are dispersed throughout the child's body including his neck, torso and legs.

Doctors earlier said they planned to remove the most dangerous of the needles, but others would have to remain inside the body because removing them would be too risky.

The village of Barreiras lies in Brazil's tropical northeast, a region heavily populated by the descendants of African slaves. It is known throughout Brazil as a centre of religions and rites similar to voodoo practised in Haiti and West Africa. - AFP

Can a person even comment on something like this?

 

[Buddy]

That is sad. My heart goes out to that boy.

I hope you don't mind, E, if I add a bit from a couple of related articles.

Black magic fears in toddler needle case

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, 30, has been moved from Barreiras in the western state of Bahia because residents of the city want to kill him for his horrific crime, which has raised fears over "black magic" rituals, officials said.

"He did it aiming to kill the child, to take revenge on the child's mother, with whom he used to fight a lot," said Barreiras police chief Helder Fernandes Santana.

The Estado news agency reported that the boy was taken each weekend to the home of a woman named Angelina, who ordered his stepfather to insert the sewing needles.

Stepfather put needles in toddler - police

The stepfather, Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, broke down and confessed after being arrested earlier in the day, the police chief in charge of the investigation, Helder Fernandes Santana, told reporters.

"He did that for revenge, to get back at his wife. His mistress told him to kill the child through a macabre ritual," said Santana by telephone from the north-eastern town of Ibotirama, in Bahia state.

The mother of the boy, Maria Souza Santos, 38, told the newspaper A Tarde de Salvador de Bahia that she believed her son had been the victim of a black magic rite.

She said she had found a bottle of cachaca (Brazilian rum made from sugar cane) and objects used for such ceremonies in the modest house she shared with her six children, her mother and her husband of six months, Magalhaes.

Souza Santos works as a maid. Magalhaes worked as a fisherman and labourer.

Although Brazil is a largely Catholic country, superstition and animist cults exist, mainly in the poorer northern regions. - AFP

Apparently, "My mistress made me do it", is not an acceptable defense for this particular crime, though.

 

[dannybananny]

Can a person even comment on something like this?

No comment.........

 

[Erna]

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, 30, has been moved from Barreiras in the western state of Bahia because residents of the city want to kill him for his horrific crime

We have this mob justice here in the townships as well - people are just fed-up. They should leave him in that village, he won't see another sunrise...

 

[Avala]

I wouldn’t remove him from that town. I mean why?

Did they hope that he can be "cured" or have "fair trial" or something like that? I wonder did already some sick, sexual center driven psychiatrist have already shown interest in study that creature?

 

[dannybananny]

Second 'black magic' needle case rocks Brazil

A new case of a boy stuck with several sewing needles as part of a black magic rite has sickened a Brazil already raw from a two-year-old who nearly lost his life to such a practice.

The boy in the northern state of Maranhao, also two years old, was apparently perforated with the slivers by his father, police told AFP.

"Everything indicates the father participated in black magic rituals. He has been put in preventive custody for five days, and that could be extended for another five days," said the investigating officer, police chief Armando Pacheco.

"Other people are implicated, but because of ongoing investigations, we can't give details."

The parents were denying any responsibility, but custody of the boy has been given to his grandparents.

According to police, doctors discovered the needles inside the boy's body in August and removed two of them.

The case came to light after that of another two-year-old boy in the northeastern state of Bahia who was found to be stuck with dozens of needles by his stepfather, who confessed to wanting to kill the youngster to get back at his wife.

That boy had an operation last week to remove needles perilously close to his heart and lungs, and was scheduled for additional surgery Wednesday to take out more of the metal spikes from his bladder and intestines.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/987385/Second-black-magic-needle-case-rocks-Brazil

What to say then this world is getting crazier and crazier every day!

 

[aragorn]

I think I'm going to throw up... My tolerance for 'free will' just took a serious blow - those sick b******s!

 

[Erna]

What to say then this world is getting crazier and crazier every day!

I'm thinking it's not even the tip of the iceberg that reaches the news where these things are concerned.

 

[dannybananny]

I'm thinking it's not even the tip of the iceberg that reaches the news where these things are concerned.

You're right, there are so many cases that aren't reported, and right now someone can be abusing some child in the same way and we don't have an idea about it!