RIO DE JANEIRO — A man in a remote fishing village in Brazil kept his daughter imprisoned for 12 years, raped her repeatedly and had seven children with her, police said Wednesday.
The man also is accused of abusing a young girl he had with his daughter.
Police say Jose Agostinho Pereira, 54, kept his daughter, now 28, under virtual house arrest in a two-room, thatched- roof hut in northeastern Brazil.
An officer said the only way to reach the home was by using canoes. Authorities said the children appeared to suffer from malnutrition and could barely communicate. Most were unclothed.
The alleged abuse began when Pereira’s wife left him in 1998, said police inspector Jair Lima de Paiva.
Pereira has been in jail since Tuesday in the city of Pinheiro, about 1,400 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. Charges have not been filed against him. Under Brazilian law, prosecutors file charges only after police have ended their investigation.
