Brazil boy found with 40 needles in 'black magic rite'
A Brazilian toddler has up to 40 sewing needles inside him, which police say were deliberately inserted by his stepfather in a "black magic" ritual. Police said Roberto Carlos Magalhaes has confessed to inserting the needles into the two-year-old boy, who is in intensive care at a hospital.
Mr Magalhaes said his mistress told him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife.
Doctors will try to remove the needles, some 2in (5cm) long, from the boy.
The toddler was taken to hospital in the north-eastern Bahia state by his mother, complaining of stomach pains and vomiting.
X-rays showed scores of sewing needles inside his neck, torso and legs. At least one had punctured a lung.
'Revenge attack'
Police said Mr Magalhaes broke down and confessed after being arrested.
"He did that for revenge, to get back at his wife," the police chief the town of Ibotirama, Helder Fernandes Santana, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"His mistress told him to kill the child through a macabre ritual," Mr Santana said.
The mother told police she suspected that the boy had been the victim of a black magic ritual after she found suspicious objects in the home she shared with Mr Magalhaes - her husband of six months - and her six children.
Doctors said most of the needles will be removed, but not the ones inside organs as their removal could cause more damage.
They said there were no signs of wounds on the boy.
Reports say the boy is in serious condition, but that he has shown some improvement since being admitted to hospital on Sunday.
Doctors initially said up to 50 needles had been inserted into the child, but later revised that figure to up to 40.
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That is fucked up, wrong, ect ect. I can't imagine how painful that is. And the surgeries he'll need to get the needles out, plus the rehab for the surgeries and all those needles...Gah. I'm getting depressed thinking about it. The only positive I can think of is that the boy is so young if he survives he'll have little/no memories of it. As for the people involved, I can only hope some sort of painful death befalls them. It may sound crude, but to hurt a defenseless boy like that means they don't have any respect for life and I'm not going to respect theirs in turn.
