Sex with Daughter Consensual

Rio De Janeiro (News Today) - A man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 12 years and fathering her seven children says their relationship was consensual. The comment comes as a second daughter told authorities she was abused by her father and bore him a son.

Police say Jose Agostinho Pereira, 54, could face up to 30 years in prison for allegedly keeping one of his daughters and their children in subhuman conditions in two-room hut in an isolated, jungle area in north-eastern Brazil.

In a jailhouse interview, Pereira remained defiant about the accusations that he had seven children with his 28-year-old daughter.

"It's a crime, I know it's a crime. But she was also committing it," Pereira told local television station TV Cidade.

"I only did it because it was a consenting love. If she had not consented to it, I wouldn't have done it."

Lead investigator Adriana Meireles said that another of Pereira's daughters - who is now 31 - is accusing him of abuse.

"The woman confirmed to us that her father raped her and that she had a son about 17 years ago," Meireles said.

"The woman said she escaped from the home shortly after she gave birth to the boy and left him with her father."

Police say Pereira started sexually abusing his now 28-year-old daughter after his wife left him, when the daughter was just 12. The pair had their first child four years later.

Authorities said the children appeared to suffer from malnutrition and could barely communicate. Most were unclothed.

The exact ages of the four girls and three boys are not known, as none of their births were registered. Police believe they range in age from two months to 12 years.

Pereira is accused of keeping his daughter under virtual house arrest since 1998. They and their seven children lived in a thatched-roof hut, outside a tiny fishing village in Maranhao state, an area so remote it can be reached only by canoe.

Pereira has been in jail since Tuesday in the city of Pinheiro, about 2250 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro. His daughter and the children are being cared for by the state's protective care services.

Police were tipped off about Pereira's behaviour by anonymous phone calls. Officers from Pinheiro were sent to the remote area about 10 days ago, where they located Pereira's house, kept it under observation for a few days, and then arrested him.

"He confessed to everything," said a police officer who helped arrest Pereira, speaking on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to discuss the case.

Charges have not been filed against Pereira. Under Brazilian law, prosecutors only file charges after police have ended their investigation. It was not known if Pereira had a lawyer.

Last year in Austria, Josef Fritzl was found guilty of locking his daughter in a dungeon for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.

Source : kompas.com

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