A 53-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of his wife, stepchildren and brother-in-law after they were poisoned by a New Year’s Day meal.
Francisco Pereira was taken into custody Wednesday morning in the northeastern city of Parnaíba, Brazil, just one week after he allegedly contaminated the rice in the family’s lunch.
Cops also revealed the suspected chilling motivation for his crime, stating that Pereira was driven by anger at his wife and her two children, whom he called ‘primates.’
‘He revealed, as did his stepdaughters, that the relationship between them was troubled, to say the least. He did not speak to any of his wife’s children and had a specific feeling of hatred towards Francisca Maria, the children’s mother,’ Piauí Civil Police chief Abimael Silva said at a press conference following the arrest.
‘This feeling of hatred was so great that even with her on her deathbed, he couldn’t hide it in his statement,’ Silva added. ‘He said that when he looked at her he felt disgust and anger. These are his words in his statement,’
Eight family members and a neighbor fell ill after consuming the rice, beans and fish meal and were rushed to area hospitals.
Pereira’s brother-in-law, Manoel da Silva, 18, died inside an ambulance. His one-year-old stepson, Igno da Silva, died Thursday. During the early hours of Monday, his three-year-old stepdaughter, Maria Lauane da Silva, died.
His wife, Francisca da Silva, 32, died in the early hours of Tuesday.
Francisco Pereira was arrested by authorities in the northeaster Brazilian city of Parnaíba in connection to the poisoning deaths of four people, including his wife and his two stepchildren
Police said that Francisco Pereira was allegedly motivated to poison the New Year’s Eve lunch that killed his wife, Francisca da Silva (left) and his two stepchildren one-year-old son Igno (held by Francisca) and three-year-old daughter Maria Lauane (right) because he hated them
Four other people, including Pereira’s wife’s four-year-old daughter, Maria Gabrielle da Silva, survived. She remains hospitalized and in critical condition.
In his statement Pereira told investigators that he hated Francisca’s children.
‘He called them ‘primates’, unhygienic people, people he didn’t want to be around, but he put up with them,’ Silva said.
Silva added the arrest was made as possible due to the varying accounts that Pereira provided, which were different from what was provided by the rest of the people who live at the home.
“We are not saying that he is guilty, that he committed the crime. It is likely that he is, but we should not anticipate the judgment,” Silva said.
Pereira was led into a local police station in handcuffs and told reporters that the court would be who determines who was responsible for the New Year’s Day tragedy.
‘God will show who is guilty,’ he said.
Pereira was placed in pretrial detention for 30 days.
Manoel da Silva, 18, died the afternoon of New Year’s Day moments after he consumed leftover rice that had been contaminated with terbufos, a substance that is found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals
Three-year-old Maria Lauane da Silva died during the early hours of Monday at a hospital in Teresina, Brazil. The child is the fourth person from the same family to die from eating poisoned rice during a New Year’s Day lunch. Her mother, one-year-old brother and 18-year-old uncle also died
Igno da Silva, 1, died on January 2, a day after he and eight other family members consumed poisoned rice for a New Year’s Day lunch at his home in Parnaíba, a city in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piauí. His mother, three-year-old sister and 18-year-old uncle also died. His four-year-old sister remains hospitalized
Authorities said the family gathered for dinner on December 31 and had rice, beans and meat, and that everyone was fine.
They met the afternoon of January 1 and reheated the rice and beans and served with it fish that had been donated by a couple, who does charitable work in the area.
Francisca’s mother, Maria dos Afilitos, told Fantastico news magazine that it was likely that a person entered the home and added the poison to the rice while everyone was asleep.
Authorities initially thought the family was poisoned by the fish before investigators analyzed leftover portions and blood from the victims and discovered traces of terbufos, a substance found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals.
Its sale for residential use is banned under Brazilian law.
Authorities in the northeastern Brazilian state of Piauí analyze the leftover rice that the family had as part of their lunch on New Year’s Day and found that it had traces of terbufos, a substance that is found in pesticides and agriculture chemicals
A police officer receives a bag containing left overs from the meal that killed four family members and hospitalized five in Parnaíba, Brazil
Dr. Antônio Nunes, who oversees the Piauí Institute of Legal Medicine, told G1 that there were ‘visible granules’ of terbufos in the rice.
The tragedy comes months after da Silva’s two oldest children died after eating poisoned cashews.
A neighbor, who is under arrest, gifted a package of nuts to João da Silva, 7, and Ulisses da Silva, 8, on August 23, 2004.
João died five days later and Ulisses spent nearly three months hospitalized and died November 11.
The Piauí Civil Police said that the two incidents are not related.
The New Year’s Day family tragedy comes as Brazilian authorities were also tied up with the investigation surrounding a poisoned Christmas cake and the deaths of three family members in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul on December 23.