Couple convicted of death of 4-year-old child in SC is arrested in RS using false documents

Mother and stepfather were arrested this Wednesday (27) for the crime of ill-treatment, which resulted in the death of the woman’s 4-year-old son in 2015. The couple had already been convicted and had an outstanding arrest warrant. They were found in Capão da Canoa, in Rio Grande do Sul.

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They had been sentenced in 2023 to sentences totaling 15 years in prison.

Understand the case

In June 2015, the child was taken to the hospital because he was feeling unwell. Her mother and stepfather claimed that she had fallen and hit her head while she was in a shopping mall with her family, but she did not appear to be unwell, and so assistance was sought only a day later.

That day, the child was released to return home, but returned to the hospital the next day, already unconscious. She was revived by medical staff, but ended up brain dead.

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The expert determined that the cause of the child’s death, on June 21, 2015, was “Shaken Baby Syndrome”, defined as a vigorous shaking of the child’s body, with exaggerated shaking of the head, when the child was restrained by the extremities or shoulders.

The medical report pointed out that this movement, when repeated or exaggerated in the child’s head, can cause rupture of the cerebral vessels and even cause a hematoma or hemorrhage. As a result, the situation would have led to the child’s death.

Conviction and escape

The couple was convicted after criminal proceedings for mistreatment, which resulted in the child’s death. The man was sentenced to eight years in prison, and the woman, to seven years, one month and 10 days in prison.

As the process, which began in 2015 and ended in 2023, no longer required appeals, an arrest warrant was issued for the mother and stepfather.

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The couple was found in a house rented for the season in Capão da Canoa, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and were arrested in the early hours of this Wednesday (27). On the run since 2023, they stayed in vacation rentals and hotels in tourist cities in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. According to the Santa Catarina Civil Police, they used false documents.

A fake driver’s license was also presented by the man at the time of his arrest. A Santa Catarina Civil Police t-shirt and a Justice Officer’s functional card were also found with them.

The prisoners were taken to the 6th Police Station of Porto Alegre, where they were also charged with the crime of using a false document. The two will remain at the disposal of the Judiciary of Rio Grande do Sul for the custody hearing.