One of the worst serial killers in the world was sentenced to 20 years after he murdered 42 people. The man is 41 year old bicycle mechanic, Francisco Chagas. He was arrested in 2003 for molesting, torturing, and killing the boys in Maranhao and Para in Brazil since 1991. The boys were found castrated, burnt to death, decapitated and/or sexually assaulted. The media is calling it the “Case of the Castrated boys”.
Chagas was found guilty of murdering a 15 year old boy and he confessed to suffocating and sexually assaulting him. Jury members were disgusted by the evidence photos of the boy. During the mothers testimony she repeatedly referred to Chagas as a “monster”. Brazil does not enforce the death penalty and the court has not decided when Chagas will be tried for the other 41 murders. He was returned to the penitentiary where he has been kept since his trial on 2004 awaiting further court decisions.
Chagas could’ve been sentenced up to 30 years but the judge took account the testimony of psychologists stating that Chagas suffered from a severe mental disorder and he could not control his actions during the murders. Chagas claims it was sexual abuse that he suffered from as a child that caused him to mutilate and murder the victims the way he did. He also claims that is the reason of his psychological disorder. Local people are frightened because they say the victims were killed in a spiritualistic manner, due to the castration. Human rights groups also say the state’s law enforcement wasn;t doing enough to solve the cases because most of the victims are poor.
