Brazilian duo cut baby from pregnant woman's womb

Brazilian duo cut baby from pregnant woman's womb

She wasn't able to give her husband a son, so Joelma Queila Santana da Silva, 22, resorted to hiring a man to find a pregnant woman and "take the baby out from her womb."

Together, they spiked the drink of a 20-year-old woman with a tranquillizer before bringing her to a remote area deep in the Amazon, according to Brazilian paper A Critica.

There, they strangled the victim, cut her womb with a knife, and removed her baby.

The duo later fled the scene with the newborn on a boat bound for the city of Itapiranga.

However, they didn't manage to get away as the police had already been alerted to the sighting of the victim's body in the forest.

The suspects were subsequently arrested last Thursday (Oct 19).

When questioned by the police, the couple confessed to the crime, however, the female suspect said that she did not intend to kill the pregnant woman.

Her accomplice, 18-year-old Alex da Silva Carvalho, added that he was paid R$4,000 (S$1,700) for the deed.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ejWUAwZvU[/embed]

Despite the gruesome way he was taken out from his mother's womb, the baby boy is now recovering in the hospital.

Dr Antonio Alves Marciao, who treated the baby, said that it was a miracle that the baby was unharmed from the improvised caesarean section.

He described the cut to be "really big and deep."

The infant has since been reunited with his family and is now under his aunt's care, Reuters reported.

His grandmother thanked the police for saving him and said: "I always knew in my heart that he was still alive. I just didn't know where he was."

minlee@sph.com.sg

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.