Mum-to-be killed after ‘womb raiders cut unborn baby out of her and snatch tot’
The unnamed victim was lured to a jungle in northern Brazil where she was attacked and had her stomach slashed open by two desperate killers
A CHILDLESS woman ruthlessly stole an unborn baby from a young mother's womb after hacking the child out of her belly.
The 20-year-old mum, who was 37 weeks pregnant, was reportedly found dead with her stomach slashed open in an improvised C-section.
Joelma Silva, 22, and accomplice Alex Carvalho, 18, were later caught by police as they fled with the baby, who had a superficial cut on his head but was otherwise healthy.
The desperate duo admitted luring the pregnant woman to a beauty spot near the town of Sao Sebastiao do Uatuma, in the Brazilian state Amazonas.
According to police, Silva said that she was unable to get pregnant after losing her first baby and wanted to provide a son for her husband.
Paraded before Brazilian press yesterday she claimed she offered Carvalho around £1000 to find a baby for her but said she didn't know the woman would die.
The unnamed pregnant woman was a work colleague of Carvalho who he had invited to go for a motorbike drive in the remote jungle park, according to police.
Silva said: "So we went to Sao Sebastiao do Uatuma, but I didn't think it would be that way. I thought it would be a kidnapping, snatch the baby and leave the mother alive.
"When we got there Alex rented a motorbike and took the girl on a drive. I stayed at my grandmother's house. At 11 o'clock at night, Alex came back to get me, and said the woman was there.
"When I got there, the woman had fallen on the ground, I heard her saying that her head was hurting, so Alex went and strangled her.
"I took the knife, but it wasn't me who opened her belly.
“I took the baby out from inside, took him in my arms and cut the umbilical cord, wrapped him in a sheet and took him to my gran's house.
“In the morning we took the boat back home."
Police chief Claudenor Medeiros, from the town's police station, said they were called after locals found the woman's body in the Campo de Pelada Pimenta beauty spot.
He said: "We went to investigate and found that the victim had been pregnant.
“Then we received information that a woman had been seen carrying a newborn baby on a boat which was heading to Itapiranga.”
The suspects were arrested as they arrived in Itapiranga, where they live, a town on the banks of the Amazon River 140 miles east of Manaus, on Thursday morning .
Carvalho said he regretted what he had done, adding: "I've never done anything like this before, I have no criminal record. She was my colleague. I'm sorry."
The baby was taken to a local hospital, where he was breastfed by a local policewoman, before being left with an aunt of the victim.
The two suspects have been charged with doubly-aggravated murder and remanded in custody.
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