In 2014the city of Fortaleza was the scene of a series of violations that shocked the community. Nine women, aged between 11 and 24 yearswere attacked in the neighborhoods of Parangaba, Maraponga and Vila Peri, all located on the outskirts of the capital.
According to the criteria of
The attacker used a motorcycle and a knife to intimidate and abuse his victimswhich led to the case being popularly known as the “Motorcycle Maniac” case.
Antônio Cláudio Barbosa de Castro, a 30-year-old rubber worker at the time, was arrested and sentenced for these crimes. However, After nearly five years in prison, he was acquitted in 2019 in a new trial.. This dramatic case was addressed on the Linha Direta program last Thursday (27).
Shocked by the story of Antônio Cláudio, who was wrongly incriminated as a ‘motorcycle maniac’ who was in prison with women in 2014, spent 5 years in prison, came to the end that the man loved him, became a chef in the chain. We will manage to prove his innocence and he was released in 19. #DirectLine pic.twitter.com/oKHzYkxZkP
— pedrin. 🐈⬛ (@phcalado1) June 28, 2024
What happened?
The rapes reported by nine women in Fortaleza showed a clear pattern: A man on a motorcycle approached the victims, used a knife and his physical strength to sexually abuse them..
The attacks generally took place in deserted places or on little-traveled streets. This modus operandi led authorities to believe that it was the same aggressor in all cases.
Antônio Cláudio was arrested after seven victims identified him as the attackerHe owned a tire shop in the Mondubim neighborhood, close to where the attacks occurred.
However, the story took an unexpected turn when the Public Defender’s Office of Ceará and the Innocence Project Brazil presented new evidence and requested a review of the case.
The victims withdrew their complaints
The request for criminal review, obtained by g1, revealed that seven of the eight women gave up accusing Antônio Cláudio. Four of the cases never became criminal proceedings. In the only case that resulted in a conviction, the victim was 11 years old at the time and she was the first to identify the tire store owner as the attacker.
However, The “biker” attacks continued even after Antônio Cláudio’s arrestIn April 2015 and January 2016, new rapes were recorded in Fortaleza, prompting the Public Defender’s Office and the Innocence Project to include these facts in the request for criminal review. Another man was arrested for these crimes and was identified by two of the victims who had previously pointed to Antônio as the aggressor.
The defense presented documentary evidence showing that Antônio Cláudio did not own a red motorcycle during the period in which the crimes were committed.
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How was innocence proven?
Antônio Cláudio’s exoneration was possible thanks to the intervention of an ex-girlfriend who sought help from the Public Defender’s Office and lawyers from the Brazil Innocence Project, a group dedicated to defending unjustly convicted people.
In the new trial, The defense presented compelling evidence including videos of the attacks in which the real attacker was seenwho was around 1.80 meters tall, while Antônio Cláudio was only 1.59 meters tall.
Lawyer Flávia Rahal, a member of the Innocence Project, stressed that “the only thing that supported the conviction was the identification made by the victim” – there was no DNA test or other conclusive evidence. The identification was made by an 11-year-old girl, who according to Rahal, was mistaken in identifying Antônio Cláudio as the aggressor.
Besides, The defense presented documentary evidence showing that Antônio Cláudio did not own a red motorcycle during the period in which the crimes were committed.. These inconsistencies and lack of solid evidence ultimately led to the acquittal of Antônio Cláudio, who spent almost five years in prison for crimes he did not commit.
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*This content was rewritten with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on information from O Globo, and was reviewed by a journalist and an editor.
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