Telstra BigPond News
Friday, December 18, 2009 Surgeons are hopeful they can remove most of the metal sewing needles inserted into a two-year-old Brazilian boy in a suspected black magic ritual.
A former stepfather of the boy is being held by police having told officers he inserted 42 needles into the boy with the help of two unidentified women.
The police inspector in charge of the case said a black magic ritual involving the boy was among the motives police were looking into.
'All of our officers are focused on this case, gathering information,' he said.
The youngster is in intensive care in hospital in the northeastern city of Barreiras and is to be transferred to a specialist heart unit because two of the needles are close to his heart.
Dr. Luiz Cesar Soltoski, who is treating the boy, said surgeons hope to remove most of the needles - some as long as two inches - but those in the lungs will have to wait until the child's breathing improves.
The doctor said he believed the needles were stuck into the child's body one by one.
'We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. It couldn't have been by ingestion,' Soltoski said.
The boy's mother, a maid, took him to a hospital in the small city of Ibotirama saying he was complaining of pain.
Three days later, after X-rays revealed many of the needles, doctors moved him to a larger hospital in the nearby city of Barreiras.
The boy's father, Gessivaldo Alves, said he believed his son could have been a victim of a black magic ritual.
Alves reportedly said he visited the home where the boy was living and found unspecified items that could be used for black magic.
