Death/loss of footballer’s genitals: Brazil Police opens probe

Police in Brazil have opened investigation into the death of a footballer Daniel Correa Freitas, who was not only murdered but  had his genitals harvested by a yet to be identified person(s).

Prior to his death, the 24 year old attacking midfielder was plying his trade with Sao Bento. He began his career with Botafogo, also a Serie A side, before moving to Sao Paulo three years ago.

However he has spent the past two years on loan, initially with second-division side Coritiba, before moving to Ponte Preta and then Sao Bento. The club Monday took to social media to regret the demise of the footballer considered a very important member of the squad.

A tweet read: ‘Note of regret: Botafogo regrets the demise of former player Daniel Correa Freitas and expresses solidarity with friends and family.’

Businessman Edison Brittes Junior, who is considered a suspect in the case, has since denied the act but revealed on Brazilian television that he had earlier found Freitas trying to rape his wife Cristiana and had to yank him off describing him as a scumbag. He added that he was not only under obligation to save his wife of 20 years from such unwarranted attack but also discourage any person from taking advantage of any Brazilian woman.

The 38-year-old told the Brasil Urgente programme on TV Bandeirantes: ‘He [Daniel] had gone in, taken his clothes off and locked the door.

‘I knocked on the door to my room and when I opened it he was on top of my wife and she was screaming and begging for help.

‘What I did was what any man would do, because the woman that was there was not my wife, she was every woman in Brazil.

‘It could be your daughter, sister, mother or wife. At that moment it was my wife, Chris, who I have been married to for 20 years.’

He added: ‘The media said a lot of things. My wife never had anything with Daniel, never mind my daughter.

‘Rumours always get started but the truth will come out. I know I did what I did, I want everybody watching to think what they would do to keep the moral integrity of your family and help a small and fragile woman.’

‘When I threw him off my wife, I threw him on the floor and stopped her being raped by that monstrous scumbag,” he added but denied being responsible for the death of the footballer.

Although the official cause of death has not been confirmed, Band B, a local newspaper, reported that Freitas had been ‘tortured’.