Murder of João Hélio

The callous and brutal manner in which João Hélio was murdered shocked the Brazilian public and received substantial coverage in Rio's media and throughout Brazil.

On the evening of February 7, 2007, João Hélio was riding in the back seat of his mother's car, a silver Opel Corsa B sedan, as they drove home from a religious center located in the neighborhood of Bento Ribeiro.

Rosa stopped the car at a traffic light at the corner of João Vicente and Henrique de Melo streets in the Oswaldo Cruz neighborhood shortly after nine o'clock at night.

[4] The assailants drove a circuitous route through several neighborhoods, dragging João Hélio for a total of 7 km (4.3 miles) before abandoning the car with the child's body still attached to it.

[6] At the time of the incident, Police Chief Hercules Pires do Nascimento stated that the assailants were well aware that they were dragging a child, and drove in a zig-zag fashion in an attempt to eject his body from the car.

"[8] Witnesses reported seeing the child's body toppled over many times, bouncing against the pavement, the car's rear wheel, and several speed bumps along the route that the assailants took.

[7] One man on a motorcycle chased the car to alert them that there was a child being dragged but was threatened with a gun held by a thief sitting in the passenger seat (later identified as 18-year-old Diego Nascimento da Silva); this incident occurred along Avenida Intendente Magalhães in the neighborhood of Campinho, which was illuminated with floodlights in preparation for the Rio Carnival.

Less than a week after João Hélio's death, he was memorialized at a soccer game at Maracanã Stadium before a match between Botofogo and Flamengo.

Beltrame commented on the march, "The public security can't be put solely on the shoulders of the police forces.

The assailants were sentenced by Judge Marcela Assad Karam on January 30, 2008, a week before the one-year anniversary of João Hélio's murder.

Before sentencing, the judge gave a statement where she remarked that the assailants had all the windows rolled down in the car that day and that it would have been impossible to ignore the loud sounds of the child's body hitting against the side of the vehicle.

[24] João Hélio's death was often cited in the media as an example of barbarity surfacing when street violence becomes endemic and is not sufficiently addressed.

On February 14, 2007, hundreds of people, among them victims of crime and families affected by violence, participated in a mass at the Igreja da Candelária cathedral in Centro.

Catholic leader Nixon Bezerra de Brito mentioned other brutal acts of violence that had occurred in recent years in Rio and declared that João Hélio was "a martyr in a city that doesn't know how to respect life."

The samba school Estácio de Sá entered the Sambadrome asking for a minute of silence in homage to João Hélio.

Mangueira incorporated choreography by Carlinhos de Jesus in which participants were used to form the letters of João Hélio's name.

The park has various life-size sculptures by artist Luiz Costa that show the trajectory of the short life of João Hélio.

[28] Rio's municipal government changed the name of the square near where João Hélio's body was found in the neighborhood of Cascadura.