A WOMAN has told how her husband tried to hang her and kids in warped prison inside their home as he held them captive for 17 years.
Luiz Antonio Santos Silva kept his wife and two children, aged 19 and 22, locked inside for years – repeatedly beating them and leaving them without food, police say.
Luiz Antonio Santos Silva has been arrested[/caption]
His wife has spoken out about the abuse she suffered[/caption]
The woman and her two children were kept locked away with no sanitation[/caption]
Cops were left horrified when they discovered the “private prison” with no sanitation in Guaratiba, Brazil, as they rescued the victims on Thursday.
Silva’s wife has now bravely spoken out after suffering almost two decades of abuse – with no contact with the outside world.
She told TV Globo: “I was without food, without water, being beaten, my children too, tied up, being beaten with string and hanging us too.”
The mum-of-two said her husband’s attacks worsened over the years, as he used pounding music to drown out their cries for help.
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She said: “I beat with wire and sometimes with a piece of wood.
“He was already very aggressive, but over the years the aggressions got worse.”
The woman told cops how she was often forced to go three days without eating.
She also said she was never allowed to work, and her kids was deprived of going to school.
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Silva – was known to locals as “DJ” – was arrested for false imprisonment and tourture after an anonymous tip and his wife and kids taken to hospital in a malnourished state.
They have since been discharged and taken into the care of relatives.
Officers who arrived at the house described the situation as “appalling” and said the three family members were severely malnourished and dehydrated.
According to neighbours, the two adults appear to be about ten years old because of malnutrition.
One said: “I cried when I saw her leaving. You looked at her and thought she would be about eight years old.”
A police spokesman said: “The police officers who first arrived here found these children really tied up.
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“Later, I arrived and saw that they were dirty, malnourished. So, the immediate concern was to provide medical assistance.”
The investigation is ongoing.
One of the children with their tied[/caption]
The woman said they often wouldn’t eat for three days[/caption]
