A MOTHER and her partner have been jailed in Brazil for beheading her 11-year-old son while he was still alive before chopping up and barbecuing his body.
Rosana Candido, 27, and Kacyla Pessoa, 28, were handed 65 and 64 years respectively for their roles in the murder of Rhuan da Silva Castro on the night of May 31.
Rhaun was attacked as he slept at the home that he and his mother shared with Pessoa and her eight-year-old daughter in Samambaia, about 20 miles from capital Brasilia.
He was knifed a total of 11 times in the chest and eyes, mostly by Candido while Pessoa held him down.
Candido then beheaded the boy before the pair reportedly dismembered his body and skinned his face.
The pair tried to burn the boy’s remains on a barbecue grill before abandoning the idea and packing the body parts into two rucksacks and a suitcase.
The police were contacted after two young boys saw Candido disposing of the suitcase near a nursery and opened it out of curiosity.
As it opened, Rhuan’s head reportedly rolled out with a knife sticking out of it.
The couple were quickly arrested at their home, and Candido later confessed to police that she “felt hatred and no love for the child”.
Reports suggest that she had regularly tortured her son physically and psychologically.
According to police officer Guilherme Melo, who coordinated the case: “Rosana said she is very vindictive and even compared herself to the God of justice in the Old Testament.”
It was determined that the killing was motivated by Candido’s dislike for her son’s paternal family.
The couple previously lived in Rio Branco, around 1,400 miles away, but Rhaun’s father reportedly told investigators that Candido had run away with the boy around five years ago.
Pessoa’s daughter, who is thought to have witnessed Rhaun’s killing, is also said to have been reported missing by other family around the same time.
She has since returned to Rio Branco to live with her father.
Speaking after the sentencing, Rhaun’s father, Maycon Douglas Lima de Castro, told local media: “It’s still too little, but at least they will never leave the jail again.”
