Father arrested for abusing 3-year-old daughter inside hospital in Amazonas

By Ana Pastana – From Cenarium

MANAUS (AM) – The Civil Police of Amazonas (PC-AM), through the 76th Interactive Police Precinct (DIP) of the municipality of Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, 630 kilometers from Manaus, arrested a 30-year-old indigenous teacher caught in the act last Friday, the 24th, for rape of his 3-year-old daughter. The arrest took place in a hospital unit in the municipality, where the victim was hospitalized, after the hospital’s medical team heard noises coming from the unit’s bathroom.

According to delegate Paulo Mavignier, director of the Interior Police Department (DPI), the man confessed to the crime and informed the court that he also abused his other two daughters, aged 4 and 7.

“He was arrested in the hospital when he was having sex [sic] with the child, who was hospitalized. The doctors heard a noise and suspected that he was having sexual relations with the child and quickly subjected the child to tests and confirmed the sexual intercourse, including anal intercourse. In his testimony, he reported very naturally that he was already accustomed to sexually abusing his other two daughters,” the police chief said at a press conference.

The victims’ mother was not aware of the crime, according to the police chief of the 76th DIP of the municipality, John Castilho. “The children have already returned to the care of their mother, with the support of Funai [National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples] and a multidisciplinary team. We provided protection there immediately and returned them to the care of their mother, in the community where she lives. She claims that she never saw any evidence of this abuse; he took advantage of the moments when he was alone with the child and committed this abuse,” she stated.

Police authorities also reported, at a press conference, that investigations are ongoing to identify other possible victims of the perpetrator, who is believed to have worked in a preschool network. “We are investigating because, precisely because he is a preschool teacher, there is a serious possibility that he abused other children,” Castilho said.

The man was charged with ‘rape of a vulnerable person’ and transferred to the capital of Amazonas. The perpetrator’s sentence should be increased because he is the father of the victims. According to the delegate of the 76th DIP, the indigenous man could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.

Translated from Portuguese by Gustô Alves