Deaths of Women in São Paulo are Investigated as “Feminicides”

By Xiu Ying, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The capital of São Paulo registered two suspected cases of feminicide during last weekend.

Receptionist Daniele de Jesus Martim, 38, and cashier Raqueline Correa Cavalcante, 41, were killed by their partners, according to information from the National Secretary of Public Security (SSP).

A third case, in the region of Perus, is also under investigation.

One of the defendants, 49, turned himself in and confessed to killing his ex-wife Daniele at dawn on Saturday at 4:30 AM, in the victim’s house, in the eastern Vila Matilde neighborhood.

The policemen found the woman’s body under a blanket, a tablecloth tied around her neck.

Police also seized a video that shows her husband entering Daniele’s house at the time of the murder.

[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”auto” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Femicide or feminicide is a sex-based hate crime term, broadly defined as “the intentional killing of females (women or girls) because they are females”, though definitions vary depending on the cultural context.

Feminist author Diana E. H. Russell was the first person to define and disseminate this term in 1976. She defines the word as “the killing of females by males because they are female.”

Other feminists place emphasis on the intention or purpose of the act being directed at females specifically because they are female; others include the killing of females by females. This is also done as part of sexism.[/dropshadowbox]

A homeless man from the area, who was also detained, confessed to having waited outside the house while the crime was committed. He collected the victim’s belongings with the aid of a grocery cart but said he did not help with the murder.

Another case is that of Raqueline, found dead around midnight on Sunday at her home in the region of Parelheiros, south area.

Police found the victim’s body in her bedroom with a deep cut to her neck, next to a knife and a sledgehammer.

The suspect was arrested Sunday afternoon (28th) by military police officers. The man was referred to the State Department Civil Police Homicide Division (DHPP) and will be temporarily detained for 30 days.

Toxicology, serological testing, and subungual exams were requested to compare with the genetic material of the possible offender.