A teenage boy has been arrested for strangling and then burning the bodies of his two child half-brothers because he hated his stepfather, who was the father of the pair.
The 16-year-old boy, whose name was not reported, was arrested for aggravated murder and taken to a young offender institution on the night of Monday, 25th October.
He is accused of strangling his half-brothers and then setting them on fire while they were still alive on the porch of their home in the city of Marica in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro on the same night.
The victims have been named as Vicente Costa, aged 4 (3 in some reports), and Valentim Costa, aged 2.
According to reports, the boys’ mother had left home to go to the shops and had left the two youngsters in the care of their older brother.
When she returned, she found the boys on fire and she tried to save them, but it was too late.
Their older brother had already fled the scene, but he was spotted by local residents, who alerted the police, and he was subsequently arrested on a nearby beach, according to radio station Radio Tupi.
As reported in the news portal G1, the police believe the crime was motivated by jealousy on the suspect’s part towards his mother as well as hatred of his stepfather, who is the victims’ dad.
The teen confessed his actions to his mother while he was being arrested, according to the family’s neighbour Maria das Gracas dos Santos.
Radio Tupi reported that he showed no remorse and told the police he had used alcohol to set his brothers on fire.
Dos Santos told G1: “We heard shouts. At first, I thought it was the television. I opened my bedroom window and saw it was here outside. My daughter, my husband and I then went out.
“When we got here, we found the mother shouting ‘my sons have been killed, my sons have been killed’. My husband then opened the gate, went in and saw the two children on the floor, burnt.
“She thought someone had gone in, killed the two children and kidnapped the boy. But then people here and the police found him and seized him.”
The police are investigating the case and have made no further comment on the matter.
