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13-year-old murdered classmate because he 'wanted to know what it was like to kill'

'The crime was so brutal, so cruel and so full of rage that the knife twisted in her body'

Caroline Mortimer
Tuesday 29 August 2017 13:45 BST
Jardim América State College has been shut for a week to help pupils come to terms with their classmate's death
Jardim América State College has been shut for a week to help pupils come to terms with their classmate's death

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A Brazilian teenager stabbed one of his classmates to death because he ‘like the idea of killing”, a court heard.

The 13-year-old is accused of murdering his classmate Tamires Paula de Almeida as she waited for a lift in the apartment building where the both lived in the eastern city of Goiana.

The 14-year-old knew her attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as they attended the same school and some of the same classes.

Police said the boy told them that he had deliberately planned the attack and bought the knife because he “liked the idea of killing”.

They wanted to “see how the rest of the class would react when they mourned [her] death”.

Captain Leonidio Alves de Moraes told Brazilian news website G1L: “(The boy) told us he seized Tamires just as she got into the elevator and dragged her out to the fire escape. He tried to kill her by hitting her head against the wall. But she did not die. When he saw she was still alive, he stabbed her with the knife.

“The crime was so brutal, so cruel and so full of rage that the knife twisted in her body. The victim was hit by about ten stab wounds spread between the arms, neck and chest.”

The teenager had reportedly wanted to kill two other female classmates and become a serial killer but allegedly got cold feet and ran to his school where he confessed what happened to a teacher.

Czar Sabino, the teacher at the Jardim America State College, said the boy had come to him and asked to speak to him privately.

He said: “He was trembling, very red in the face and his hands were shaking. He said to me: 'Call the ambulance I've stabbed a person in my building.'”

The 57-year-old said the teen then handed him the knife which was “wrapped in a black, bloody cloth”.

The girl’s body was discovered shortly after a neighbour heard screams in the hallway.

She cried for help and knocked on the first door she came to which, unbeknownst to her, was the victim’s mother’s.

“The girl's mother came out to help and was shocked to find the body of her daughter. It was a very traumatic event”, Captain de Morales said.

The 50-year-old neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “I didn't realise that it was Tamires at the time. I was so frightened I screamed for help and her mum ran out. She collapsed when she saw it was her daughter and had to be taken to hospital.”

The school has now been closed for the rest of the week to allow pupils time to grieve.

Tamires’ fellow students have paid tribute to her, calling her “super-intelligent and studious”.

“She was very loving and would never do anything to hurt anyone. Every was her friend”, one said.

It is unclear whether the boy will face criminal prosecution over Tamires death.

The age of criminal responsibility in 18 in Brazil but a law passed in 2015 meant that young people could be tried as adults for violent crimes.

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