Needles extracted from child
Boy will need surgery at least twice more
SAO PAULO, Brazil – Surgeons on Friday successfully removed four sewing needles from the lung and near the heart of a Brazilian toddler, allegedly plunged into him by his stepfather during a monthlong series of bizarre rituals.
The surgery lasted nearly five hours and the 2-year-old boy was in stable condition after the procedure, said Susy Moreno, a spokeswoman for the hospital in the northeastern city of Salvador where the boy was in intensive care.
“He’s OK, the surgery was a success, he’s doing fine,” she said in a telephone interview.
Dozens more needles measuring up to 2 inches in length remain inside the boy’s body, but the four removed were considered the most life-threatening.
Doctors will evaluate the boy’s recovery before deciding when to perform at least two more surgeries to remove more needles, she said.
Police say the boy’s stepfather, 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, confessed to pushing supposedly “blessed” sewing needles deep into the child because his lover told him to while in trances.