Story By: Alex Cope, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Video Credit: CEN
This is the moment two supermarket security guards are filmed whipping a naked and gagged teenager as he cries out with every crack of the whip because they suspect him of having stolen chocolate from the shop.
The shocking incident occurred at the Ricoy supermarket in the Vila Joaniza area of the city of Sao Paulo in the southeastern Brazilian state of the same name.
The seventeen-year-old victim, who has remained anonymous, told reporters that he had tried to steal a chocolate bar when the two security guards caught him and took him to a back room.
He said they then stripped him, gagged him and tied him up before starting to whip him.
In the video, he can be seen standing naked in the corner of a room with a gag in his mouth as he is brutally whipped. He can be heard crying from the pain through the gag as other voices laugh.
One of the voices can be heard saying “are you going to come back” and the naked teenager shakes his head.
The youngster told reporters: “He said that if I told anyone about it he was going to kill me, he threatened me with death.”
Preliminary information suggests the security guards recorded the video themselves.
The incident reportedly happened in July but the victim, who has reportedly lived on the streets since he was 12 years old, did not file a police complaint until recently.
An investigation into “torture” was launched and two security guards who worked at the shop have been identified by the police and named in reports as Waldir Bispo dos Santos and Davi de Oliveira Fernandes. It is unclear if any arrests have been made.
The victim’s brother told reporters that he had not spoken to his sibling for five years but after learning of the case he has taken him in to live with him. He added: “He’s not going back to that place, because I’m sure if he goes back there he is going to disappear.”
The supermarket have confirmed the two security guards “no longer provide a service for the supermarket” and said they have made a social worker available to provide support for the victim.
The crime of torture can be punished by prison sentences of between two and eight years in Brazil. The investigation is ongoing.
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