Kauã Almeida Tavares, aged 10, was strangled and killed inside his home, in March 2022Disclosure
Published 05/09/2024 17:28
In total, eight witnesses were summoned to speak in court, this Thursday (9). Among them is delegate Fábio Asty, at the time head of the 74th DP (Alcântara) and responsible for investigations. After the witnesses have been interrogated, it will be the defendants’ turn to speak. Then the debate phase begins and, depending on the jury, this moment can take up to seven hours.
If the session judge decides to take the jury directly, the trial could end early in the morning or on Friday morning (10).
According to Civil Police investigations, the couple strangled Kauã and, in order not to raise suspicions of the crime, faked a suicide scene. The accused reported at police headquarters that on the day of the incident they had found Kauã hanging from the window of the couple’s bedroom, tied by the neck to the strap of a dog leash, with his face already purple and his tongue hanging out. They also said that they tried to resuscitate the victim and, when they were unsuccessful, they took him to an Emergency Care Unit (UPA) further away from the region where they lived.
However, the version was discarded by investigators, as the autopsy report concluded that the child died after being a victim of “mechanical asphyxiation due to strangulation, through direct suffocation due to airway obstruction”.
“The marks found on the neck are not consistent with hanging. But, rather, with a strangulation carried out by the fingers of the hands. This is irrefutable technical proof that there was no hanging, there was no suicide”, said delegate Fábio Asty, at the time head of the 74th DP (Alcântara). Kauã lived in the house with his mother, stepfather and younger brother, aged 3.
Witnesses say the child was frequently attacked
“She (the teacher) said that he did things, tasks at home: he washed dishes, ironed his clothes, took care of his brother and his mother just slept. She said he was obliged to do that”, said Renata Silva da Conceição , Kauã’s grandmother.
“There are reports from witnesses that, on one occasion, Kauã was physically abused by his mother, being beaten with a broomstick. He also suffered psychological violence. He suffered this physical violence constantly. We have no doubt that this death happened in reason for this type of intemperance practiced by Suelen and her stepfather Alan”, said delegate Asty during the investigation phase.
Wesley Almeida, Kauã’s father, said, in an interview with Bom Dia Rio, on TV Globo, that his son had been threatened by his mother since the beginning of his relationship with Alan. He is the father of Suelen’s two children. “About her (Suelen) aggression against my son, I already knew. I was married to her for almost ten years, I witnessed it several times, not only me, but my father, my mother too. For me it was a huge shock , it still is. She was with her boyfriend (Alan) and was with me, and I didn’t even know, my son was threatened by her”, he said, through tears, and added.
“My son was threatened by him and her, but he didn’t tell me anything when he caught him. He (Kauã) didn’t talk to me out of fear of when he got home, as he knew he would be beaten.”
