A man is holding his wife and 17-year-old children captive. The 22-year-old and 19-year-old brothers appear to be 8. Police find the alleged children, small and bony, who are actually two adults, one 22 and the other 19.

When agents of the military police of Rio de Janeiro broke into a modest house on Rua Leonel Rocha in Guaratiba, in the far west of that Brazilian city, where mother and children were reported to have been taken, last Thursday, they were appalled by the marked weakness of the two children with whom they collided. Shock turned to horror when they learned minutes later that the alleged children, small and skeletal, were actually two adults, one 22 and the other 19.

The two and their mother were imprisoned for 17 long years in a shack, in a room with a thick cement floor, without any ventilation or openings through which light could enter, and without any possibility of maintaining hygiene. The man who had kept them imprisoned for almost two decades, Luis António Santos Silva, husband of his wife and father of two brothers, was also in the house, and when he was arrested, he showed no emotion, much less regret for the terrible crime he had committed. . made with his family. .

The two brothers were found the same as the last 17 years old, sitting on the floor in a dark room and tied up. The mother said that her husband rarely gave them food, sometimes he would not let them eat or drink water for several days, and only fed them when they lost consciousness.

Luis António Santos Silva not only kept his wife and children captive, but brutally attacked and tortured them to keep them at bay. The neighbors knew him by the nickname “DJ”, because he had a powerful speaker system at home, which, as it is now known, he turned on the maximum volume when he tortured the family, so the screams of the victims were not heard, but left loud when he left . so that the neighbors do not hear any cries for help.

The two brothers don’t talk, but the doctors still can’t figure out if it’s because of a real problem or because of the abuse they’ve been subjected to for 17 years. Physically, they look like eight years old, as the lack of food and movement did not allow them to develop, and they were so hungry that when they were released by the police and received bananas donated by a neighbor, they greedily ate fruit, peel and everything ..

Their mother, who was banned from leaving the house and often tied up and threatened with death if she told anyone about the situation, married her husband at 23, with no idea of ​​the ordeal she would face when she was released, she asked the police to shut it down again door, because she could not stand the light coming from the street and which she had not seen for 17 years. All of them were taken to the Rocha Miranda hospital for treatment of acute malnutrition and dehydration, as well as wounds all over the body.

Luis António Santos Silva, who will face numerous charges including false detention, torture, abuse and abandonment of a vulnerable person, said very little when he was arrested and limited himself to saying that he kept his family locked up. because his children were born with problems, without specifying which ones. Neighbors who knew how to live as a family locked in a shack, but did not know why and under what real conditions, even with their fear of a neighbor for two years, reported the case to the Guaratiba health center and the Juvenile Guardianship Board. but nothing has been done so far when they mustered up the courage to file a new complaint directly with the police.