'He drowned me until I touched the ground': Jairinho's ex-stepdaughter reports trips to the motel and attacks in testimony
⚡ Quick Summary
Jairinho's ex-stepdaughter reports trips to the motel and attacks in testimony One of the most important testimonies in the trial that condemned former councilor Jairinho for the death of Henry Borel came from an 18-year-old girl who claimed to have been the victim of attacks by the defendant when she was just 5 years old.
Jairinho's ex-stepdaughter reports trips to the motel and attacks in testimony
One of the most important testimonies in the trial that condemned former councilor Jairinho for the death of Henry Borel came from an 18-year-old girl who claimed to have been the victim of attacks by the defendant when she was just 5 years old.
The report was presented to jurors during the 11 days of the Henry case trial and helped support the prosecution's thesis that Jairinho had a history of violence against children.
According to the statement, the young woman met Jairinho during his relationship with her mother. When asked about episodes she experienced in her childhood, she said she was taken to motels, where she suffered attacks in the pool.
"He kept drowning me until I touched the ground. Then he let me go, I breathed and he drowned me again with his foot pushing me to the ground several times," he said.
The witness also reported other episodes of physical violence. According to her, on one occasion Jairinho squeezed her arm so hard that she had to wear a cast.
During her testimony, the young woman explained that she never told her mother what happened because she was afraid of making her sad.
“I said that if I told my mother, she would be very sad,” he said.
Discovery after the end of the relationship
The young woman's mother told jurors that she only became aware of the attacks about a year after the relationship with Jairinho ended.
According to her, her daughter revealed the episodes while watching a report on child violence.
"She started crying and said that he did this to me. She said that he hit her, hit her head, twisted her arm", he reported.
The woman also stated that her daughter had never commented on any aggression while the relationship was ongoing.
Exclusive: testimonies from Henry Borel's nanny and Jairinho's ex-stepdaughter were decisive for the conviction
Jairinho's ex-stepdaughter reports trips to the motel and attacks in testimony
Reproduction/TV Globo
Henry's death prompted a complaint
According to the testimonies presented at the trial, mother and daughter decided to seek out the authorities after learning of Henry Borel's death, in March 2021.
The mother said she sought out the boy's father, Leniel Borel, to report what she had discovered.
The young woman stated that she had carried a feeling of guilt for a long time.
"I felt very guilty, because I thought that, if we had done something, if we had spoken, we wouldn't have gotten to where we are," she said.
Henry Borel
Reproduction/TV Globo
Testimony reinforced accusation
The prosecution used the report to maintain that the attacks against Henry were not an isolated episode. Prosecutors argued that the witness described behavior similar to that which appeared throughout the investigation into the boy's death.
In the early hours of Thursday, after 11 days of trial, Jairinho was sentenced to 43 years and 9 months in prison for torture and murder against Henry Borel.
Jairo de Souza Santos Junior, known as Jairinho, was sentenced to 43 years and 9 months in prison for torture and murder
Reproduction/TV Globo
'Justice killed my son'
Leniel Borel, Henry's father, said that there was no complete justice for Henry and criticized the judicial pardon granted to Monique by judge Elizabeth Machado Louro, who considered that there had been "open misogyny" against the mother.
The decision is far from closing the case. The Public Prosecutor's Office appealed, alleging irregularities after the judge changed one of the questions asked to the jurors, which, according to the prosecution, contributed to a change in the understanding of Monique's responsibility.
Monique Medeiros is now free.
Jairinho remains in prison in Bangu, where he will now serve his sentence. His defense also intends to request a mistrial.
Almost five years after the death that shocked the country and led to the creation of the Henry Borel Law, the longest trial in the history of the Rio Court of Justice ended with a historic conviction. But the legal dispute surrounding the case must still continue in the courts.
See the full report in the video below:
Fantástico has access to testimonies from the Henry Borel case trial
← Back