– (Murilo Araújo/)
CRIMINAL RECORD
Name – Roberto Aparecido Alves Cardoso (1987-)
Place of business – Brazil
Deaths – 1
1. Champinha (Roberto Aparecido Alves Cardoso) was born in Embu-Guaçu (SP) in 1986. He had a poor childhood and, since he was a boy, he already showed signs of psychopathy: a teacher reported that he witnessed the boy coldly mistreating animals. He was also accused of murdering a homeless person, but the crime was never proven.
two. In early November 2003, Liana Friedenbach, aged 16, and Felipe Silva Caffé, aged 19, decided to spend a weekend camping near an abandoned farm in Embu-Guaçu. As Liana’s family did not approve of the relationship, she lied about her fate. Champinha and his friend Pernambuco (Paulo César da Silva Alves) were going out fishing when they saw the couple and decided to rob him.
3. Upon discovering that the couple did not have much money, Champinha and Pernambuco decided to kidnap the two. Liana suggested that the criminals ask her family for a ransom and release them. The four went to the residence of Antonio Matias de Barros, another accomplice, who was the first prisoner of the crime.
4. On the first night of captivity, Pernambuco sexually violated Liana, while Felipe stayed in another room. Champinha was not involved in this action. The next morning, the bandits concluded that Liana was the only important part of the kidnapping and Pernambuco executed Felipe in the undergrowth with a shot in the back of the head. The body was abandoned in the woods. Liana was taken to another location, by a new accomplice, Antônio Caetano da Silva
5. Pernambuco fled to São Paulo and Champinha returned to captivity with Liana – when he raped her for the first time. At the same time, the girl’s father found out that she had gone camping and, believing that the couple might have gotten lost, called the COE (Special Operations Command), which began a search in the region. They found Liana’s wallet and cell phone and the students’ clothes.
6. On the third day of captivity, Liana was gang-raped by Champinha, Antônio Caetano and also by Aguinaldo Pires (another partner). Even without knowing about the kidnapping, Champinha’s brother, who knew about his behavioral problems, warned him about the movement of police in the region. Champinha told him that Liana was his girlfriend and that he would take her to the bus station, but that was not his plan.
7. In the early hours of November 5, Champinha took the victim to the same thicket where he killed Felipe. He tried to slit her throat and, failing, stabbed her in the back and chest with a knife. But she died of head trauma, when Champinha hit her head with the blunt side of the knife. The victims’ bodies were only found five days later – and the suspects were located and arrested on November 10
8. Aguinaldo Pires was sentenced to 47 years and three months in prison for rape. Antônio Caetano da Silva received 124 years in prison for various rapes and Antonio Matias was sentenced to six years in prison and one year, nine months and 15 days in prison for false imprisonment, personal favoritism, aiding the escape of the other accused and hiding the weapon of crime. Pernambuco got 110 years and 18 days for qualified homicide, kidnapping, rape and false imprisonment. Champinha, a minor, was sentenced to three years at Fundação Casa
WHAT END DID IT TAKE?
A report pointed to antisocial personality disorder and mild mental retardation in Champinha, who today lives in an Experimental Health Unit, under the care of the State.
SOURCES Court of Justice of São Paulo, Court of Justice of the Federal District, Folha, Globo and Terra