Police in Brazil have disclosed that a 36-year-old father who sexually abused his daughter for four years which led to the death of the 13-year-old girl while giving birth to his child.
The 13-year-old girl identified as Luana Ketlen lost her life on December 11 after she was admitted to hospital as a result of severe abdominal pains she suffered before it was later discovered by medics that she was pregnant.
According to reports, Ketlen died en route to a specialist care unit after she was induced to labour by the doctors and eventually delivered a surviving baby boy.
The father identified as Tome Faba has been issued a warrant by the police alleging that he began abusing his daughter when she was aged just nine.
Faba went on the run before being caught in the city of Coari a week later. He appeared in court for the first time on December 27 charged with child abuse and manslaughter.
Faba’s family, who live on the outskirts of Coari, say they had no idea about the abuse. The slightly-built teen was seven months pregnant when she was rushed to Coari regional hospital suffering from severe pains.
Doctors diagnosed her with acute anaemia and decided to induce labour. She gave birth to a premature baby boy who miraculously survived.
But following delivery, the girl’s health took a turn for the worse and test results found she was suffering from multiple complications including cirrhosis of the liver, water on the lungs and low blood pressure.
Luana died while being airlifted to a specialist hospital in Manaus, the Amazonas state capital, some 225 miles away (363km).
At a press conference, Coari police chief, José Barradas said: ‘The teenager lived with her parents in a rural area outside the city. ‘She did not realise, until two months ago when she began to feel pains in her abdomen, that she was five months pregnant.
A relative, who did not want to be identified, described the teenager as innocent and immature, and said she was so traumatised by the abuse that she kept it secret.
It was only when her body started to change and family members became suspicious that she could be pregnant that they uncovered the truth.
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