One of the complaints that led to the arrest of pai de santo Ailton Ribeiro da Silva, 62, came from a man who claims to have been abused, as were his two teenage children, during religious rituals. Arrested this Thursday (5), the priest is being investigated on suspicion of sexually harassing patrons at an Umbanda center in Capão Redondo, in the South Zone of São Paulo. The police have already identified at least ten victims, including minors.
One of the main witnesses is the father of two teenagers who attended the center. As the young people are minors, their identities will be preserved. The family filed a police report at the 6th Police Station for the Defense of Women (DDM) in Santo Amaro on October 13.
In his statement, the man reported that he himself had been a victim of the pai de santo. According to what he told g1, during a ritual, Ailton took him to a private room and started touching his private parts over his clothes. When he questioned what was happening, the incorporated entity would have replied that it was "part of the spiritual work".
One of the complainant's children, then 14 years old and now 16, also reported having suffered similar abuse. The teenager left religion and moved to Pernambuco with his mother. Months later, he said that Ailton tried to kiss him, touched his private parts and ran his tongue over his ear during supposed incorporations.
"As there is a confidentiality agreement regarding the relationship between people involved in rituals and spiritist entities, the boys did not report this straight away. When I found out from my oldest son's mother, I questioned the youngest, who also attended the center, and he confirmed that he also suffered from this type of thing", said the father.
The youngest son, who was also 14 years old at the time and is now 15, said that he suffered the same type of harassment as his brother, but did not feel comfortable talking about it because he did not know if it was in fact a spiritist ritual.
The young man even reported that one of the times, in a yard that Ailton Ribeiro had in Itapecerica da Serra, the pai de santo invited him to sleep in a bed with him, but the boy refused.
The 14-year-old teenager said he even carried a knife hidden in his pocket for spiritual work, in order to defend himself from the pai de santo's attacks, which happened several times.
"I feel deceived. Ailton used my faith to commit abuses against me and my children. It's a situation that we can't even describe. Because we believe in religion and the good faith of priests. But when they use their influence and their spiritual power to do this kind of thing, it's disgusting, it's hideous, it's dirty and low," the father told g1.
After gathering his children's reports and his own experience, the man started talking to other visitors to the house and discovered, according to him, a network of harassment that was silenced.
"There are people who are older today, but who were also harassed when they were minors and left the religion because of Ailton's harassment. At the end of the incorporations he was questioned and said he didn't know anything", he stated.
The expectation is that, with the publicizing of the case, new victims will appear and be encouraged to give their testimony to the Court, according to another victim who spoke to the reporter on condition of anonymity.
The 34-year-old was a 'mentor' for young people who were starting out in Umbanda within the temple presided over by Ailton. He says that, in 2025, during one of the rituals, he was taken to an isolated room in the area and, while he was in meditation, he felt the pai de santo rub his body against him, run his tongue over his ear and touch his private parts.
"I thought it was an isolated situation that had only happened to me. But one of my students told me that he had also experienced this and raised the alarm. I started asking other boys and reached the father of the two minors. And then the situation became clear that it was a common behavior", said the data scientist to g1.
The ‘master’ of the younger ones said that he spoke to Ailton twice on the phone announcing the reason for his and the others’ departure from the temple and he just regretted it.
"On the phone he told me that he didn't remember anything, but that he regretted what had happened to me, that he was upset. He even said that he also experienced this type of harassment back in 1980, when he was starting out, but that it was common in religion", he said.
“When I said that other victims had also said the same thing, he said he needed to get himself together and would look for me to explain what had happened, but we never spoke again,” he declared.
“As the temple has been operating for around 30 years, we think that more people will show up and find the courage to report it, after his arrest,” he added.
Arrest and investigation
The São Paulo Civil Police arrested this Thursday (5) the pai de santo Ailton Ribeiro da Silva, aged 62, accused of sexual harassment against believers at a spiritist center in Capão Redondo, in the South Zone of São Paulo.
The victims filed complaints against him at several police stations in São Paulo last month. Ailton had even been investigated for harassing minors.
The religious man's defense informed g1 that it will take a position on the accusations "only in the case records."
The pai de santo was the leader of the Spiritist Temple of Umbanda Caboclo Tatuy de Oxóssi, in the Jardim Ipê neighborhood, a very respected temple that has branches in several cities and even outside Brazil, such as in Uruguay.
According to victims interviewed by g1 before his arrest, he took advantage of individual rituals to touch the private parts of the so-called "sons of saints" while he was supposedly incorporated.
In total, ten victims have already been identified. At least five of them have already filed police reports against Ailton Ribeiro. This led police chief Antonio Giovanni, from the 37th Police District (Campo Limpo), to ask the court for the temporary arrest of pai de santo. He states that Pai de Santo is being investigated for having committed several sexual crimes.
"He is being investigated for rape of a vulnerable person for having carried out these acts with a person who was 13 years old at the time, another was 14, who also reported that she was already being abused. We also have sexual rape through fraud, which is when a sexual act is performed with an adult who in principle could consent to the sexual act, however, he is misled. He consents to the sexual act in a fraudulent context, which in this case would be a religious excuse", he says.
The delegate also says that, in some cases, there was still sexual harassment, when the act takes place against the person's will.
Pai de Santo's temporary arrest was ordered for 30 days. The police also carried out search and seizure warrants at several addresses linked to the one being investigated to collect documents and equipment that could help in the investigation.
