Brasilia, Jan 23 (Inditop.com/EFE) A boy whose plight moved Brazil last month when he was taken to hospital with dozens of sewing needles in his body was released from the medical centre Friday and will continue his recovery at home, authorities said.
The two-year-old boy is in good condition after the three operations he underwent over the last 30 days in which 22 needles were extracted, the health department of the northeastern state of Bahia said.
Doctors say there are still needle fragments in the child’s body but that they represent no risk to his health.
The boy, according to police, was the victim of his own stepfather, identified as Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, who eventually confessed on a television programme that he stuck dozens of needles in the child’s body in a black-magic ritual aimed at taking revenge on the boy’s mother, with whom he has a tense relationship.
Magalhaes was arrested along with his girlfriend, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, who presumably practises black magic, and another woman said to have helped torture the boy.
In the three operations that the child underwent, doctors extracted needles stuck near the heart and spinal bone marrow, as well as in the abdomen, lungs, bladder and other parts of the body.
Doctors said it won’t be necessary to extract 10 remaining needles stuck in his legs because they do not pose a significant threat to the toddler’s life.
The needles were discovered Dec 15, when the boy’s mother, Maria Souza Santos, took him to a hospital in the eastern city of Barreirinhas after he complained of stomach pains.
The doctors were perplexed over the large number of needles inside the boy – initially it was estimated that there were as many as 50 – and the apparent lack of an explanation for why they were there.
The stepfather, telling his story on the “Fantastico” show on Globo television, confessed to sticking the needles in the boy’s body two or three times a week, and before doing so had him drink wine so that he would sleep.
rounak