Brazil: Couple cut pregnant woman's belly to steal baby, burn corpses later

Rio de Janiero: A couple from Brazil kidnapped a seven-month-pregnant woman and cut her belly to steal her unborn child, after pretending for months that they were expecting a child.

According to a report in Daily Mail, 21-year old Thaina da Silva Pinto and her husband Fabio Luiz invited Rayanni Christini Costa to their home, promising to donate baby clothes to the poor mother.

The Brazilian police believed that the couple after cutting Costa’s belly, discovered that she was only seven months pregnant and not eight-and-a-half months as Costa had told them.

Costa’s body was then reportedly burnt. Investigators on Tuesday found the charred bodies of her and her baby at the couple’s home garden in Rio de Janeiro.

Pinto, who had been married to Lima for three years, convinced her friends and family that she was expecting a baby girl. However, in reality, the doctors had informed Pinto that she couldn’t conceive due to cysts in her ovaries.

Police said Pinto with the name Lidia, established contacts with young, poor mothers in Rio de Janeiro after joining a WhatsApp group for people wanting to donate clothes, nappies and toys to babies. She met Costa through this group.

The police also said that Pinto held her ground during for more than 20 hours saying she was pregnant and this indicates a ‘level of psycopathy’.

Both Pinto and Lima have been arrested and charges of double homicide and concealment of corpses have been put on them.