A murder probe has been launched in Brazil after tests found a New Year’s Day meal which killed a young uncle and his nephew and niece was laced with rat poison – just days after a poisoned Christmas cake killed three members of another family.
One-year-old Igno Davi da Silva lost his fight for life on Thursday, a day after his 18-year-old uncle Manoel died in an ambulance on his way to hospital after eating the fish dinner on January 1.
Tragically a third victim, Igno’s three-year-old sister Lauane, died in the early hours of this morning, according to local media reports.
The toddlers’ mother Francisca Maria and another of her children, aged four, remain in hospital in Parnaiba in the north-east Brazilian state of Piaui.
Tests had discounted the presence of poison in donated fish the family had eaten but had shown leftover rice they had consumed contained a pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents, according to Brazilian weekly news programme Fantastico.
Police chief Abimael Silva told the programme: ‘Someone put the substance in the rice on the first day.
‘We understand that there was an intention to put this substance in their food and we’re going to start a murder investigation, ruling out natural or accidental death.’
Police sources said they haven’t ruled out the possibility a relative is responsible.
However Maria dos Aflitos da Silva, the mother of tragic Manoel and the grandmother of the two youngsters still in hospital, said she believed someone with criminal intent broke into the family home and deliberately poisoned the food that was eaten.
One-year-old Igno Davi da Silva lost his fight for life on Thursday, a day after the family ate the rice and fish meal
Three-year-old Lauane da Silva died during the early hours of Monday at a hospital in Teresina, Brazil
Manoel da Silva, 18, died in an ambulance on his way to hospital after eating the fish dinner on January 1
Police reportedly said that tests showed leftover rice the family had consumed contained a pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents
Police in Brazil are investigating a new family food poisoning which has left two members of another family dead
Disturbingly, the latest food poisoning tragedy is the second involving the family, with Francisca Maria having lost two older children in the space of just two months last year.
Ulisses Gabriel da Silva, eight, died in November after nearly three months in hospital. His brother Joao Miguel da Silva, seven, had passed away on September 12.
A neighbour named as Lucelia Maria da Conceicao Silva, 52, was accused of giving them nuts laced with insecticide for allegedly taking fruit from a tree in her back yard and charged with double homicide. She is currently believed to be in prison as part of her pre-trial custody arrangements.
Detectives are not linking last year’s crimes to the current criminal probe at this stage.
News of the latest twist in the case came as detectives in nearly 2,500 miles south in the city of Torres revealed a woman had been held on suspicion of triple murder and attempted murder following a horror alleged Christmas cake poisoning there.
Officers have not officially named her but she has been widely identified in local press as Deise Moura, the daughter-in-law of Zeli dos Anjos who made the traditional festive treat.
Zeli’s two sisters died as well as her niece and the 61-year-old is still in hospital fighting for her life. Her 10-year-old great nephew was also treated in hospital.
Deise Moura was arrested yesterday and held by police at the home she shares with her husband Diego in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Ulisses Gabriel da Silva, eight, lost his fight for life in November after nearly three months in hospital. His brother Joao Miguel da Silva, seven, (above) had died on September 12
Her mother-in-law Zeli Dos Anjos made the traditional festive treat which killed three members of her family at a Christmas party at Torres near Porto Alegre in southern Brazil on December 23.
Mother-of-one Zeli is still in hospital fighting for her life, while her two sisters Maida da Silva, 58, and Neuza Dos Anjos, 65, both died along with Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Dos Santos, 43.
They lost their lives within hours of tucking into the cake, and traces of deadly arsenic were found in their bodies, authorities later revealed.
The arrest is understood to have been sanctioned by police chiefs after tests on the cake confirmed ‘high levels’ of arsenic.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice confirmed to MailOnline today that an arrest warrant had been issued for Deise ‘on suspicion of committing triple homicide, with a futile motive and using poison, and three attempted homicides, with a double aggravation.’
The ministry’s statement added that ‘the suspect will have a custody hearing on Monday afternoon.’
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