A mother confessed to stabbing her one-year-old girl to death while she laid in her crib claiming she was afraid she would lose custody of her baby to the child’s father.
Baby Julia suffered a brutal death at the hands of her own mother, Eliane Nunes da Silva, 27, on the morning of 26th October.
The baby was stabbed while she was in her crib at their family home in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, and has suffered injuries all over her body, including her abdomen, back and neck.
Hours earlier, she and her husband had reportedly fought and he asked her for a divorce.
He allegedly told her he would also sue for shared custody over their daughter and then left for work.
But Nunes da Silva was allegedly convinced her husband’s family would want to have the child completely taken away from her with sole custody.
Allegedly determined not to let that happen, she then picked up a knife and repeatedly stabbed the girl.
After the act, Nunes da Silva turned herself in to police, confessing what she had done.
Street surveillance footage shows her leaving her home shortly after the crime while carrying a backpack, apparently on her way to surrender to authorities.
According to Detective Diego Garcia, who is in charge of the investigation, the mother appeared at the police station at around 11:00 am, covered in blood.
There was no one else at home when everything happened, so Nunes da Silva is the only suspect in the child’s death.
Detective Garcia said: “In my 12 years in the police force, I confess that this was one of the scenes that disgusted me the most because of the number of injuries on this child, in her bed, which was a crib.”
The police went to the family’s home after she confessed to the crime.
The child was found dead in the crib, covered in blood, and beside the body was the knife that is believed to have been used to commit the infanticide.
According to the detective, baby Julia had received so many stab wounds that only forensics could determine the exact number.
Additionally, the detective also stated that the woman may undergo a psychological evaluation to assess her mental sanity.
He said: “We have to be very careful with the word ‘outburst,’ because sometimes a malicious person uses that to defend themselves, to ‘justify’ the commission of the crime.
“So it is necessary for forensic reports, which the IPC will likely work on, to prove whether this woman has any mental impairment that could lead to this crime.
“But apparently, in my opinion, at a glance, there are no signs of an outburst.”
Another aspect that will be analyzed by the forensic examination is whether the child was sleeping or awake when the crime occurred.
Julia, who celebrated her first and only birthday on 14th October, was the couple’s only child.
