A mum has been arrested for stabbing her three-year-old daughter to death and dumping her body on the beach before telling the girl’s grandfather the child was “in heaven”.

Karine da Silve Minuto, age not reported, was arrested for murder shortly after she allegedly stabbed her young daughter Manoela Minuto Aguiar to death and dumped her body on Barreto Beach in the coastal city of Macae in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro on the morning of Sunday, 28th November.

It was Karine’s father, name not reported, who identified his granddaughter’s dead body after it was located by a fireman on the beach.

He subsequently told the police he had been worried about his daughter in the days leading up to the alleged crime, saying she was in emotional disarray.

He told the police he had gone to his daughter’s house at around 7:30 AM on the day of the alleged crime, but she was not home at the time.

He said he bumped into her riding her bike alone as he was on his way home, and he asked her where her daughter was, to which she reportedly replied: “Manoela is in heaven.”

Suspecting the worst, he called the Fire Brigade, and an officer swiftly found the child’s body on the beach.

The girl’s mother reportedly confessed her crime to the police, according to local media including O Dia. However, she otherwise remained silent during questioning.

Investigators have since said she shared custody of the girl with the girl’s father, who is her ex-husband.

The father had reportedly only dropped the girl off at her mother’s house on the morning of the alleged crime. He subsequently gave evidence at the police station after the finding of the body.

The suspect remains in custody as the investigation continues.