Suspect of raping child inside mall denies crime and says: ‘video is edited’

Gabriel Abreu – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – Rogerio Lindoso dos Passos, suspected of rape of vulnerable against a girl 4 years, in a fitting room of a mall in the north of Manaus, He surrendered in the afternoon of Monday, 20, at the headquarters of the Police Department Specialized in Protection of Children and Adolescents (Depca), in the neighborhood Aleixo, South-Central Zone of the Amazon capital. The accused said he is innocent and that the video released was edited.

The victim was with her mother in a department store when the crime happened on March 2. The case came to light after images were released by the victim’s mother. In the images from the security circuit, the child appears next to her mother, while they walk towards the fitting room. The girl ends up getting distracted and does not notice the direction that the mother took, going to the men’s side. After the event, the child would have left the fitting room and met with the mother, asking her to leave the place; when she questioned what had happened, the child was reluctant, but ended up telling about the rape.

“I am innocent and I want to know where is the complete video, because the video posted is an edited and criminal video that is condemning me. I am being threatened by all of Manaus and we want the complete video for my lawyer to make my defense. A few days ago, I heard about it. I heard about this case on the 10th, and we want the complete video so my lawyer can defend me. I went in to try on clothes and no one even came into my fitting room,” said the suspect.

The warrant of arrest was issued last Monday, 13, by the criminal duty of the Court of Amazonas (TJAM). The defense lawyer, Alexandre Torres, said the client is innocent and that the suspect does not understand why he is being accused

“It’s very hard to say what motivated it, why that story was told. Why fingers were pointed at him, we can’t understand? He also has no idea, because he went there to change clothes, left, and when he arrived, on the 10th, he already received an accusation through the media and colleagues that he was being accused of this very serious crime. They didn’t even take the precaution of hiding his face, while this situation was being investigated”, highlighted the lawyer.

Understanding the case

The victim was with her mother in a department store when the crime happened, on March 2. The images from the security circuit show the child, together with her mother, as they go towards the fitting room. The two separate and the child looks for his mother as she heads towards the men’s fitting room.

The image of the suspect was released by the child’s mother, after filing an occurrence report (O.R). In the video, it is possible to notice that the whole action takes place in four minutes. The suspect is the first to enter the men’s fitting room, which is in the same wing as the children’s fitting room, where the child’s mother was.

According to the time, in the security camera video, the man enters the fitting room first, at 5:43 pm, to the right side. Then, at 5:44, the mother moves to the left side of the video and enters the first booth, where the children’s fitting room is. The child follows the mother, but ends up going to the opposite side. At 5:47, about four minutes later, the child and the mother meet outside the fitting room.

According to the mother’s report, to Portal Norte Notícias, she had taken a blouse to the fitting room, put it on, and noticed the absence of her daughter. The images show the moment she leaves the fitting room, one minute after having entered, to look for her daughter, then, she returns to take off the shirt and leaves in search of the child.

According to delegate Joyce Coelho, head of the Police Department for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (Depca), the girl was lured by the suspect into the men’s fitting room, at the short moment that the mother was trying on the blouse. “[He] suspended her blouse and ended up caressing the child’s breast region, emphasizing that this libidinous act characterizes the rape of a vulnerable person,” said the delegate in an interview with Rede Amazônica.