Brazil: pai de santo convicted over thirteen victims — court finds systematic use of his religious influence
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Appellate history
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Prosecution appeal pending — NOT final.
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
pai de santo of an umbanda terreiro in Hortolândia
Organization
No organization assigned
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
CORE, in the court's own words: the judgment names the systematic use of his power of influence as pai de santo as the mechanism. Every victim was a follower of his terreiro.
- Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
- Ritual, oath, or initiation
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2024-09-01 · conviction and sentence; prosecution appeal pending
1ª Vara Criminal de Hortolândia, São Paulo (Juiz André Forato Anhe). Eduardo Santana, known as Pai Du, pai de santo of an umbanda terreiro in Hortolândia, was convicted in September 2024 of rape, sexual violation by fraud, sexual importuning, sexual harassment and injury against thirteen victims — all followers of his terreiro — between 2020 and 2023, and sentenced to sixteen years, three months and seventeen days in closed regime plus a further term in semi-open regime. The judgment expressly found systematic use of his 'power of influence as pai de santo'. The prosecution has appealed seeking additional convictions and a higher sentence.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- the court's express finding of systematic use of his 'power of influence as pai de santo'
- sexual violation by fraud within the terreiro's religious framework
Cited record
Sources
- official prosecutor release verdict and sentencing release Ministério Público de São Paulo: conviction release.
The prosecuting authority's own release, quoting the judgment's finding.
Source provenance
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- Source and tier basis
- https://mpsp.mp.br/w/pai-de-santo-e-condenado-em-hortolandia-por-crimes-como-homofobia-estupro-e-violacao-sexual Corpus classification: official-prosecutor-release; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-release.
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-27 · Retrieval failed
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
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