Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Afro-Brazilian religious settings Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil · 2023

Brazil: appellate court raises a 'pai de santo's' sentence to 175 years for raping twelve women under cover of terreiro rituals

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

a man presenting as a 'pai de santo' (Candomblé spiritual father) running a terreiro (place of worship) attended by his victims

Organization

terreiro (Candomblé house of worship), Sorocaba

Spiritual nexus

Twelve women were drawn into fraudulent 'rituals' staged specifically because he held himself out as their terreiro's spiritual father — the religious framing is what obtained their submission, as the court's own findings and the corroborating priest's testimony establish.

  • Ritual, oath, or initiation
  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2023-09-26 · trial conviction, sentence increased on prosecution appeal

    Brazil — 8ª Câmara de Direito Criminal, Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo (TJ-SP). The defendant, presenting himself as a 'pai de santo,' was convicted at trial and sentenced to 136 years for raping twelve women through fraudulent ritual pretexts under cover of his religious role. On prosecution appeal, the 8ª Câmara de Direito Criminal of the TJ-SP increased the cumulative sentence to 175 years on 26 September 2023 (individual sentences are capped at 40 years' actual service under Brazilian Penal Code art. 75). The defense's appeal for acquittal was denied. Rapporteur Judge Ely Amioka found the defendant 'exploited the faith of victims'; a legitimate Candomblé priest testified at trial that the sexual conduct alleged violated the religion's actual practice.

Appellate history

  1. 2023-09-26 · Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo, 8ª Câmara de Direito Criminal

    Conviction affirmed; sentence increased from 136 to 175 years on prosecution appeal; defense acquittal appeal denied.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • a claimed spiritual-father role used to stage fraudulent ritual pretexts for sexual contact
  • repeated abuse of twelve separate women drawn to the terreiro as devotees

Primary record

Sources

press press report 'TJ-SP eleva para 175 anos pena de falso pai de santo por estuprar 12 mulheres,' Amazonas Direito, reporting the 26 September 2023 TJ-SP 8ª Câmara de Direito Criminal ruling.

Appellate ruling text summary: sentence increase, rapporteur's reasoning, and the corroborating Candomblé priest's testimony.

Related record

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