BRAZILIAN BROTHERS BURY FATHER ALIVE

Two Brazilian brothers have been arrested for killing their father in later December, claiming that he violently abused them because they are gay.

The unnamed brothers, aged 18 and 21, have confessed to drugging their father, described as a local Afro-Brazilian religious leader, with sleeping pills and then burying him alive while he was unconscious.

They confessed to an uncle who called the police. The brothers told police that their father could not accept their homosexuality and would become violent when drunk.

Antonio Valente Filho, chief of police of Timon, in Maranhao state, confirmed that the man had suffocated while buried.

He told Globo TV’s G1 website that he believes that an additional motive could have been a dispute over “control of the ceremonial grounds”.

A neighbour has also been arrested and questioned about helping the brothers dig the hole in which they buried their father.