A seven-year-old child has died and two others have been left hospitalised in a serious condition after allegedly eating a poisoned Easter egg. A 35-year-old woman – who is the ex-girlfriend of one of the victim’s current partner – has been arrested in the Médio Mearim region of northern Brazil.
Jordélia Pereira Barbosa was taken away by police on Thursday who accused her of sending the spiked chocolate to a family in Santa Ines, also in northern Brazil. Luís Fernando Rocha Silva died in the early hours of Thursday morning and his mum Mirian Lira, 32, and sister Evelyn Fernanda, 13, are still in hospital.
The unsuspecting family were delivered the Easter egg by a motorcycle courier on Wednesday night. A message from a secret sender was left with the egg, which said: “With love, to Mirian Lira. Happy Easter.”
Mirian reportedly also received a mystery call from an anonymous person – who did not respond when the mum-of-two asked who was on the other line- later that night, asking if she had been sent the Easter egg. Her seven-year-old son was the first to start feeling unwell, and he was rushed to a local hospital.
Luís died several hours after he was admitted and his mum only started showing worrying symptoms while at the hospital for her son. Her hands reportedly started to turn purple and she was struggling to breathe – before being desperately admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Samples of the potentially killer egg were rushed away for analysis at the Imperatriz Criminalistics Institute, according to Globo.
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