Court acquits retired PM colonel accused of raping his own son

The Ceará Court acquitted, on October 19th, a retired colonel from the Ceará Military Police (PMCE) accused of raping his own son, who was 4 years old at the time of the facts investigated. The case took place in Fortaleza.

The decision is from the 12th Criminal Court of the District of Fortaleza. According to the ruling, there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal conviction. The PM's identity will not be revealed, to protect his son.

"Acquittal does not mean stating that the fact certainly did not occur (...) It just means that the set produced does not allow us to conclude, beyond reasonable doubt, that the hypothesis described in the complaint corresponds to the historical fact and can be attributed to the accused", says the court decision, to which g1 had access.

The case began to be monitored by the courts in August 2023, when the Public Ministry of Ceará (MPCE) denounced the colonel. According to the accusation, he had committed acts of a sexual nature and mistreated his son in 2021, during periods of parental coexistence.

The complaint was based on a report from the child's mother, a former partner of the military police officer. According to the sentence, she stated that she noticed changes in her son's behavior, resistance to living with his father and reports with content incompatible with the child's age.

During the process, caregivers, teachers, psychologists and other health professionals were interviewed. The child also gave a statement.

According to the decision, tests did not identify the presence of sperm or other conclusive material traces. A report also showed no injuries to the child's private parts.

"On the other hand, it is also correct to state that the absence of conclusive physical traces does not constitute proof that the facts did not occur, especially due to the nature of the infraction investigated and the time gap between the alleged events and the carrying out of the expert examinations. However, the lack of confirmatory material elements prevents the aforementioned report from being interpreted as positive evidence of the occurrence of crimes", states the decision.

In a statement, the retired colonel's defense, represented by lawyers Bruno Queiroz and Leandro Vasques, stated that the accused "beared, for more than five years, the weight of an accusation of extreme gravity".

"He found himself deprived of time with his son, his honor was exposed, his health was compromised and his family life was devastated. The acquittal sentence handed down does not give him back lost time or fully repair the scars left behind, but it reestablishes what should never have been called into question: the dignity of an innocent man", says the note.

The defense also stated that the dentist who examined the child stated that the clinical findings observed in the oral cavity could be due to several factors, with no possibility of a conclusive diagnosis or direct relationship with the accusation.

According to the lawyers, the psychologist hired by the child's mother declared in court that the boy never spontaneously reported having suffered sexual abuse.