An abusive stepfather has confessed to fatally beating his young stepson for soiling his diaper. Paulo Cesar da Silva Santos, aged 23, took two-year-old Henry Gabriel to an emergency room in Queimados, Rio de Janeiro, where medical staff discovered severe bruising and contacted authorities. Tragically, the toddler passed away, with Santos admitting to striking him with his hand and a slipper due to the diaper incident.
Following Santos’s arrest, police disclosed that witnesses had reported his past aggressive behavior. Henry’s father, David dos Santos Barreto, expressed deep sorrow, revealing that his son had endured physical abuse, as confirmed by a medical examination detailing various injuries.
Santos, who faces charges of aggravated homicide, was apprehended shortly after the assault. Witnesses alleged prior instances of abuse by the 23-year-old, coupled with a history of substance abuse. Family members disclosed that Henry usually resided with his mother, Yasmin, and Santos during the week. On the day of the incident, Yasmin had requested Santos to take the child to her mother’s residence, but he instead brought the injured Henry to the hospital, where his condition rapidly deteriorated.
Police Chief Julio da Silva Filho disclosed that the child had developed fear towards his stepfather, with neighbors attesting to hearing distressing altercations between the two. Investigations are ongoing, with forensic results pending, and authorities emphasized that the mother was unaware of Santos’s abusive behavior towards her son.
In a separate but similar incident, a former beauty queen, Trinity Poague, allegedly caused the death of her boyfriend’s son, 18-month-old Romeo Angeles, because of resentment towards the child. Poague, then 20 years old, reportedly assaulted and killed Romeo in her dorm at Georgia Southwestern State University, driven by a desire for a family with her boyfriend.
The child’s father, Julian Williams, had left Romeo with Poague briefly, only to return to a distressing message from her claiming the child was in distress. Prosecutors argued in court that Poague’s actions stemmed from jealousy towards her boyfriend’s attention to his son.