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By Reuters 
8h ago
Fabio Teixeira
Rio de Janeiro – A Brazilian woman enslaved as a servant since the age of eight for almost four decades and forced into marriage was rescued in an unusual crackdown on domestic slavery, authorities said Monday.
The 46-year-old man was found living in a small room in an apartment in Patos de Minas, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. He had worked for the family most of his life without pay or time off, according to labor inspectors.
The victim was turned over as a child by her destitute parents to the family of Dalton Cesar Milagres Rigueira, a Unipam university professor, and raised by her mother, inspectors said.
“They gave him food when he was hungry, but they took away all other rights,” Humberto Camasmie, the inspector in charge of the rescue, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The woman’s name has been withheld to protect her identity.
Domestic servitude in Brazil is difficult to identify and address because victims rarely see themselves as modern slaves, authorities say. Of 3,513 workers found in slavery-like conditions between 2017 and 2019, only 21 were subjected to domestic servitude.
A lawyer representing the Rigueira family said they had been presented as guilty by the Fantastico news program, which revealed the ransom on Sunday, before their case was heard in court.
“The premature and irresponsible disclosure by inspectors and state agents, before a lawsuit recognizes … their guilt, violates the rights and sensitive data of the family, and compromises their safety,” the lawyer said in a statement.
A Unipam spokesperson said Rigueira had been suspended by the university and that “all legal measures are being taken.”
Labor prosecutors said they were trying to reach an agreement with the Rigueira family to pay compensation to the victim. If prosecutors accuse him of employing slave labor and find him guilty in court, Rigueira faces up to eight years in jail.
FORCED MARRIAGE
While labor inspectors can visit workplaces at will to check for slavery, they must obtain permission from a judge to enter a home and said evidence of abuse by victims was a prerequisite.
Rigueira residents alerted authorities after receiving notes from the 46-year-old woman asking them to buy food and hygiene products as she had no money, according to labor inspectors.
During her captivity, the woman was forced to marry an elderly relative in the family so that they could continue to receive her pension after her death, authorities said.
After her rescue in late November, the woman was transferred to a shelter where she is assisted by psychologists and social workers. Authorities said they were trying to reunite the woman with her biological family.
The woman now keeps a monthly pension of around R $ 8,000 ($ 1,557), which is seven times higher than the minimum wage in Brazil, according to labor inspector Camasmie.
“She didn’t know what a minimum wage was,” he said. “Now he is learning how to use a credit card. He knows that every month he will be paid a substantial amount (of the pension).”
Domestic servitude made headlines in Brazil in June when authorities rescued a 61-year-old maid who they judged had been enslaved by a woman who worked for the Avon beauty company.
Avon fired the executive and said it would support the victim. The former Avon employee, who along with her husband and mother were charged with enslaving a worker, denied the charges.
Thomson Reuters Foundation
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