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Fifty needles found in Brazil boy Arrest in Brazil needle boy case
(about 16 hours later)
A Brazilian toddler has up to 50 sewing needles inside him, which doctors suspect were deliberately inserted. A Brazilian toddler has been found with up to 40 needles inside him, which police say his stepfather deliberately inserted in a "black magic" ritual.
The two-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his mother. X-rays revealed the needles, including one in his lung. Police said Roberto Carlos Magalhaes has confessed to sticking the sewing needles into the two-year-old boy, who is in intensive care at a hospital.
His mother said she did not know how the needles, some 2in (5cm) long, got inside him. Police are investigating. Mr Magalhaes said his mistress told him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife.
A doctor said it was unlikely the boy had swallowed them. Most of them will be removed, but not the ones inside organs as that could cause more damage. Doctors will try to remove the needles, some 2in (5cm) long, from the boy.
Dr Luiz Cesar Soltoski told Associated Press news agency: "We think it could have only been by penetration because we found needles in the lung, the left leg and in different parts of the thorax. The toddler was taken to hospital in the north-eastern Bahia state by his mother, complaining of stomach pains and vomiting.
"It couldn't have been by ingestion." X-rays showed scores of sewing needles inside his neck, torso and legs. At least one had punctured a lung.
The boy was taken to a hospital in the small north-eastern city of Ibotirama, before being transferred to a larger hospital in Barreiras, in the state of Bahia. 'Revenge attack'
He is in intensive care. Police said Mr Magalhaes broke down and confessed after being arrested.
There were no signs of wounds on the boy, doctors said. "He did that for revenge, to get back at his wife," the police chief the town of Ibotirama, Helder Fernandes Santana, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"His mistress told him to kill the child through a macabre ritual," Mr Santana said.
The mother told police she suspected that the boy had been the victim of a black magic ritual after she found suspicious objects in the home she shared with Mr Magalhaes - her husband of six months - and her six children.
Doctors said most of the needles will be removed, but not the ones inside organs as their removal could cause more damage.
They said there were no signs of wounds on the boy.
Reports say the boy is in serious condition, but that he has shown some improvement since being admitted to hospital on Sunday.
Doctors initially said up to 50 needles had been inserted into the child, but later revised that figure to up to 40.