Joao Helio was a six year old child from Rio de Janeiro who was coming back from soccer practice and later religious services with his mother and older sister. He was sitting on the back-seat of his mother's 4 door car with his seat-belt on. His mother was driving. They approached a red light, and although it was night time and they know that, in Rio de Janeiro, one should never stop at a red light at night, she had to stop because there was already a car stopped in front of them. While they were waiting for the light to turn green, three men got out of the car that was stopped in front of them, carrying riffles, and pointing it at them while screaming "get out of the car skank!". Little Joao's mother quickly got out of the car and ordered her daughter to get out too, and she made her way to the back-seat to get her son out as well, as he was still buckled in. She quickly opened the door and begged the criminals to please wait because her child was stuck to the seat-belt, but the 16 year old criminal yelled "hurry up skank" and slammed his door, taking off with the back door opened and her son still stuck to the seat-belt.
They dragged her son on the hot asphalt for 7 kilometers, only stopping at a dead end street, where they got out and ran away towards the slums where they lived. While they were dragging the child, motorists who saw something that "looked like a child" being dragged, tried to warn the driver, yelling for him to stop, saying that "there is a child being dragged by your car", but the criminals replied "it's not a child, it's a Judas doll that we are dragging".
A Judas doll. They called this innocent, sweet, loving 6 year old child, who was carefully raised with so much love by his parents, his sister and his whole family, a name that is the synonym of betrayal and lack of faith. But calling her son Judas and calling her "skank" are not what destroyed Joao's family, of course. What destroyed this otherwise completely normal and happy middle class family was the unsuspecting brutal killing of their baby boy.
Joao's body was found by police officers who were unable to contain their tears at the scene of his little body completely disbanded, the asphalt, for 7 kilometers, covered in blood and body parts of a child that had done nothing to deserve this horrific and tragic fate. Joao's mother stated that she ran after the car, but she knew that she was powerless before this horrible act, that she could not run fast enough to release her child, and felt impotent beyond imagination. She only wished she had "superpowers" and could fly and release him from that tragic situation. She felt guilty and destroyed. She knew right away that she had lost her only son.
Joao's father remembers that day well. He said that it was not an ordinary day, that by chance he was scheduled to see a client next to where his son Joao played soccer, and while he was waiting for his meeting, he decided to go watch him play, something he never got to do. That day Joao scored a goal, and even the teacher said that did not usually happen. For his father, it was a good bye. It was God's way of letting him have one more moment of joy with his son, see him score his first goal, and be there with him, in that moment, for the first and last time.
This family is forever changed. The image of their only son/brother dragged by these monsters the Brazilian penal code calls children, will never leave their mind. Their impotence before such a tragic and torturous scene is ongoing, and probably haunts them day in and day out. The city of Rio as well as Brazil as a whole was appalled at such cruelty, and the police was able to arrest the men because the father of the perpetrator turned them in. This father is a hero, and someone worthy to be called a human being. Someone who was hardworking, poor but dignified, who may have unwillingly raised a monster, but cannot be blamed for that act when he worked two jobs and went to school at night just so he could motivate his son to go to school too, and help him get through his studies.
The criminal's father has a conscience and a sense of social order, but Brazil's justice system does not. Joao Helio's murderers too are just one more example of impunity, but that story is beyond this entry, and I will have to address it at yet another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment