The 16-year-old claims she was assaulted by 30 men but delayed in reporting it to police. Police have now released images of some of the 30 men suspected of being involved and raided two slums near Rio de Janeiro where the incident is reported to have taken place.
Advertisement
Brazilians have taken to the streets to protest against the rape and also rallied on social media with the hashtag #EstuproNuncaMais (RapeNeverAgain). “Many people laughing at me, and I was drugged, out of it. Many people with guns, boys laughing and talking”. But if a video showing men surrounding the woman’s unconscious body “is true, and it looks to be true, there is no doubt it was rape”.
Two men, including a man investigators have said may have been her boyfriend, have been arrested in connection with the crime and four others sought by police are still at large.
The video showed the girl in a room with three men, being touched in ways that constitute rape under Brazilian law, Rio police Chief Fernando Veloso told reporters on Monday.
Mr Temer, who is standing in as the country’s leader while Dilma Rousseff is suspended and facing an impeachment trial, said in a statement: “I condemn most forcefully the rape of the teenager in Rio de Janeiro”. The men arrested were identified as Rai de Souza, 22, and Lucas Perdomo Duarte Santos, 20, according to the AP.
Demonstrators attend a protest against rape and violence against women in Brasilia, Brazil on Sunday. The case has caused outrage throughout Brazil as a video of the incident was posted on Twitter by an alleged perpetrator, and was widely shared, with many comments blaming the victim. The girl has testified there were 33 men.
The victim, in a television interview on Sunday night, said Mr. Thiers opened his initial statement-taking with her by laying out images from the attack on the table and saying bluntly: “So?”
“He blamed me”, she said.
That male police officer has now been replaced by a woman.
Many victims of rape “don’t say anything because they are afraid of the traffickers”, Bento said. At a news conference on Monday, Bento did her part to silence detractors and, stating matter-of-factly that she wholly believed the victim had been gang raped, and that she plans to “present a robust case” to the prosecutor’s office.
Crime has fallen in recent years, but there has been an increase in homicides in recent months as Rio’s police department had its budget slashed amid an economic downturn.
Advertisement
Protesters chanted “there was no rape” and held placards stating the same thing during a small demonstration at a bus stop near the western Rio slum where the girl said the gang rape occurred.
