In this case, arrests took place on May 5 in Pinheiros, a city of 77, people in northern Brazil, but neither the age of the victim nor the circumstances of the crime are unusual. Every hour, four girls under the age of 13 are raped in Brazil. More than half of the 66, victims were under that age, according to the report.
These cases hide the true scale of the issue as they are the ones escalated to the police or medical specialists. Their disruptive behavior often hides a life of sexual abuse and other forms of violence at home. The psychologists have seen cases of a four-year-old girl who masturbates four times a day in class, a year-old girl who starts to show signs of pregnancy , or the seven-year-old boy who pressures classmates into performing oral sex.
The victims do not follow any pattern of age, race or social class, but their aggressors are almost always family members or close family friends. Fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers and older siblings, however, are common. As it is not uncommon for the mother of the child or other relatives to be complicit, the abuse can extend through childhood.
Often the victim will be blamed for destroying the family or leaving it without an income if they complain and the aggressor is the main financial provider. Unfortunately, cases can start extremely early. Bonifacio recalls the case of a year-old from an evangelical family. The girl discovered in science class that what her father had been doing to her since she was eight years old and got her first period was sex.
With no television, cellphone or internet, she had simply not heard of it. Detecting abuse is the first step, and in the case of young children, this is usually discovered according to their behavior at school. When they are older, they often tell someone they trust, but the most serious cases come to light at hospital. A further difficulty once abuse is exposed is protecting the victim without re-victimizing them, and prosecuting the crime.
