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- SAO PAULO - Brazilian police said Wednesday they arrested
a voodoo priest on suspicion of robbing graves and making human sacrifices
after finding 16 skulls and other bones buried beneath his home.
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- Jose Augusto dos Santos, 40, is being
investigated for allegedly sacrificing a small child and a man in a rare
Afro- Brazilian religious ceremony aimed at winning favors from the devil,
police in the remote state of Mato Grosso said.
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- "This man had pictures of Lucifer,
Satan, all over the house. He had statues of him as well,'' said homicide
investigator Marcio Peironi.
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- "He says he bought all these bones
from a worker at the cemetery. But we have reason to believe he may also
have committed human sacrifice,'' he added.
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- Peironi said Augusto dos Santos admitted
to paying a grave digger for skulls and skeletons for use in black magic
rituals at his home and "terreiro,'' or house of worship.
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- Augusto dos Santos is known as a "pai-de-santo''
or head priest in Afro Brazilian religion. He told authorities his terreiro
was used for Candomble ceremonies, in which West African gods possess followers'
bodies during heated moments of dance and drumming.
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- But the Candomble religion, like virtually
all Afro- Brazilian religious practices, does not involve human sacrifice
or worship so-called evil spirits.
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- Police said they believe Augusto dos
Santos was paid by middle and upper class followers of the darker, Quimbanda
religion, where the pai-de-santo summons evil spirits to win favors from
them.
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- Along with the remains of a young child
buried beneath Augusto dos Santos' terreiro, police say they found a photo
of a baby with the words "Para Morrer'' or "To Die'' written
on the backside. Augusto dos Santos, who has denied allegations of murder,
told local press the photo was of his own child.
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- Police also believe they may have found
the remains of a man who had been missing since 1995, Romualdo Pereira
Barbosa, in the priest's house.
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- "We have done the big job, discovering
these remains. Now we have send them for DNA tests, hopefully identify
them and notify the families,'' Peironi said.
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