Horrifying new details of how three members of a family attending a Christmas party were killed by a poisoned cake have been revealed for the first time.
Zeli Silva Dos Anjos, 61, who baked the traditional Brazilian festive treat, was among seven people who attended a pre Christmas annual party on December 23 – but only four survived.
Now can reveal that there were two cakes baked for the party – and the family could have been spared if they had chosen to cut the second, safe cake instead of the one that turned out to be poisoned with arsenic.
Other revelations, revealed by a member of the tragic family who spoke for the first time included how:
The disturbing new details were revealed by close relative Isabel Moraes who described in detail for the first time the circumstances surrounding the tragedy at Torres near Porto Alegre in southern Brazil as she spoke to this morning.
Ms Moraes told how, within hours of tucking in, her sister in law Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, Neuza Denize Silva Dos Anjos, 65, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Silvia Dos Santos, 43, were all dead – and authorities later revealed traces of deadly arsenic were found in their bodies.
Zeli and her 10-year-old great nephew Mateus, Tatiana’s son, were also taken ill and rushed to hospital.
Speaking exclusively to , Maida’s sister-in-law Isabel said: ‘Zeli is horrified by what’s happened. She is overcome with guilt because it was her cake that caused the tragedy, but we keep telling her not to worry and that it was an accident.
‘We said she shouldn’t blame herself, but she is getting so anxious it’s not doing her recovery any good. She is getting worse instead of getting better. She is on a ventilator to help her breathe and we don’t know when she will be discharged.’
Revealing for the first time the sequence of events leading up to the tragedy, Isabel, 54, a psychologist, said: ‘Every year Zeli baked the cake and every year everyone meets up for a family get together to celebrate Christmas and be with each other, we are all extremely close.
‘That day two cakes were made. One by Zeli and one by Maida, but it was only Zeli’s which was eaten. If they had eaten the other one then perhaps this wouldn’t have happened.
‘Both were on the table and Jefferson said it was decided to leave Maida’s cake and have Zeli’s because she was the one who made it every year but as soon as they started to eat it, they felt ill.
‘Jefferson told me that within a few minutes they were all saying it had a bitter sour taste and by this time Zeli had eaten two slices but as soon as everyone started to complain she said ‘Stop, no one eat any more.’
However, a short while later everyone who had eaten the cake was doubled up in agony vomiting and ambulances raced to Maida and Jefferson’s apartment in Torres to take the group to hospital.
The only guest not to suffer any ill effects was Neuza’s husband Joao who doesn’t eat cake, while Jefferson was discharged by doctors after a few hours.
Maida was the first to die on Christmas Eve, while Neuza lost her life a few hours later and her daughter Tatiana was the last to pass away with their funeral services held on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Isabel said:’Zeli is just such a wonderful warm person, she is full of life and love, I won’t say a bad word about her, she is just such a kind helpful human being, and this is nothing more than a mistake.’
When asked what she thought might have happened, Isabel wiped away tears and said: ‘It’s hard for us to say, we just don’t know anything, we’ve seen the reports about arsenic, but Zeli wouldn’t have poisoned anyone.
‘We have a cousin who is a chemist, and he said that there is no way such a large amount of arsenic could have been produced by out-of-date ingredients, so it makes us wonder if someone tampered with it.’
Isabel added: ‘It’s strange that just our family is involved though. Even the policeman said he’d never seen a case like this.
‘You have to wonder if it is something deliberate from someone, but it won’t be Zeli. I think if this is a deliberate action, it will be someone with a grudge against the family, but I have no idea who that could be – or what their motive is.’
Recalling devastating floods that hit the area in May and forced Zeli and Paulo to moveout, Isabel said: ‘They lost everything, and they were given a lot of donations like everyone else.
‘They had food and pots and pans and maybe somehow the ingredients they were given had already been tampered with by some bad person, it’s possible but we can definitely say it wasn’t Zeli.
‘Maybe it was someone who was mentally ill, maybe someone was being cynical and put the poison in the ingredients and then donated the food.’
Isabel added: ‘My brother has been really shaken by what’s happened, he was married for 37 years, he and Maida met at school and were classmates, they were childhood sweethearts.
‘She was a teacher, and he worked in sales and they both really enjoy travelling, they have a motorhome and whenever they could, they would go to the beach or the mountains in it especially after Maida retired from work.
‘We are a very religious Catholic family, very spiritual, and we pray a lot, Jefferson has been at church every day since this happened and he has been with Tatiana’s husband and Joao a lot.
‘They are holding each other’s hands and praying a lot to try and peace and comfort with each other.’
Recalling the moment Maida passed away, Isabel said: ‘Jefferson told me that after she died, he stayed with her an hour, talking to her and holding her hand and saying goodbye.’
Isabel also confirmed what other relatives had told , that Zeli’s husband Paulo died in September from food poisoning after eating bananas suspected to have been contaminated by chemicals following the flood.
She said: ‘Zeli told me what happened at Paulo’s funeral a few months ago. They work up as usual and Paulo went to make coffee while she mashed up some bananas for their breakfast.
‘They ate them with a little bread and drank the coffee and then went for a walk but after a few minutes he said he didn’t feel well and then started to vomit and a few minutes later she started to vomit as well.
‘A neighbour saw them being sick and called an ambulance and they went to hospital. Zeli recovered quickly but Paulo just got worse and eventually died. We all said at the time the bananas must have been contaminated by the flood waters.’
Isabel added the family had every confidence in the police and added: ‘We know they are taking this very seriously and investigating every aspect but for the moment what we are all worried about is Zeli and we are praying she will pull through.’
A bulletin issued by doctors at the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes on New Year’s Day confirmed Zeli was still in intensive care and ‘was stable but that her ventilatory function had worsened’.