Itaberlly Lozano and his mother Tatiana Ferreira Lozano Pereira.
(Itaberlly Lozano/ Facebook)
A mother who stabbed her teenage son to death for being gay has been sentenced by a jury in Brazil to 25 years and eight months in prison.
Tatiana Ferreira Lozano Pereira never accepted that her 17-year-old son Itaberli Lozano was gay, and tensions between the two worsened over Christmas 2016.
According to Out, Lozano had gone to stay with his grandmother because of the fights with his mother, but on December 29 Pereira lured him backed to the houses with promises of reconciliation.
Instead, she hired two hitmen – Victor Roberto da Silva and Miller da Silva Barissa – who waited at the house to “teach a lesson” to her son. They beat him but refused to kill him, so Pereira took a kitchen knife and stabbed him herself.
Pereira and her husband, Lozano’s stepfather, then took his body to a cane field and set it on fire. His remains were found a week later, and forensic investigation was necessary in order to identify him.
According the Brazilian news site Estadão, Pereira was convicted of murder and concealing a body, and sentenced to 25 years and eight months in prison.
The two hitmen were each sentenced to 21 years and eight months in prison, also for murder. Lozano’s stepfather has been charged with concealing a body, but his trial has been postponed and is yet to be rescheduled.
Lozano’s uncle Dario Rosa told police: “He had a job, he was very polite, [and] he never quarrelled with anyone. He only had problems with his mother, who did not accept that he was a homosexual.”
At trial, Pereira denied being homophobic and said that the arguments with her son were about him bringing men home and using drugs. She also said that her son had tried to kill her.
Pereira and the two hitmen are all planning to appeal their sentences.