Thaindian News

By Gina Gomez
Jan 28, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A 64-year-old man has been taken to custody in Brazil after he allegedly kept his wife locked in a dingy cellar of his house for as long as eight years. The man Joao Batista Groppo was arrested along with his girlfriend by Brazilian police authorities in Sorocaba, which is about 80 kilometers in the western direction of Sao Paulo. After being taken into custody, the 64-year-old man claimed that he had kept his wife, Sebastiana Aparecida Groppo confined to the cellar under his house for 16 years, but later revised the period to eight years, a revelation that has also been affirmed by his son.

While talking to reporters, police officer Jaqueline Barcelos Coutinho said that the cops acted on a tip-off and carried out a raid at his Sorocaba residence where they found Joao Batista Groppo’s wife lying naked in a basement that was filled with dead cockroaches and feces. The police official further revealed that the cellar was devoid of any kind of ventilation or electricity and the woman had to live under inhuman conditions unfit even for animals. At the same time, the police officer divulged that the 64-year-old man has told cops that as his wife was mentally unstable and aggressive, he could not think of any other way to keep her away from wandering and getting lost.

However, police authorities have emphasized that as of now they have got no evidence that might suggest that Joao Batista Groppo’s wife was of unsound mind. Meanwhile, the Brazilian man and his girlfriend who used to share the apartment with him might face as many as eight years behind bars, cops have revealed.