A team of experts from the Criminal Offenses Investigation Department (DIIP) carried out, yesterday morning, in the city of Lubango, capital of Huíla, the arrest of a couple aged between 32 and 37, for having attacked them with stones. a minor under 13 years of age in the Lalula neighborhood, on the 17th of February
The attack occurred on February 17th inside the residence where the couple lived with the boy, the attacker’s stepson, located in the Lalula neighborhood. Avelino Songue, 37 years old, surprised his wife when she was beating their son with a blunt instrument (stone).
On that occasion, the young man began filming his son (the result of his first relationship) being beaten by his stepmother, his wife. However, a few days after the incident, the video ended up on social media and served to alert authorities about the crime.
Which is why, a team of DIIP specialists from the Provincial Command of the National Police in Huíla, led by superintendent Pedro Cassoma, entered the ‘field’ and located the couple and proceeded with their arrest. “The Police in Huíla took such steps, because the video itself turned out to be a public complaint, since, in principle, it was a crime of domestic violence and determined that the aggressor is the minor’s stepmother and that the footage it was made by the minor’s father”, explained the officer, yesterday, when proceeding with the public presentation of the alleged attackers.
Pedro Cassoma explained to the press that the arrest was possible following an arrest warrant issued last Monday by the prosecutor at the Department of Investigation of Criminal Offenses. “The arrest occurred after the Police in Huíla saw a video that went viral on social media, in which a citizen appears attacking a minor with a stone and there was also another minor trying to help, and screaming desperately”, he stressed.
On the other hand, the Head of the local DIIP assured that the couple has already been present to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which, in turn, sent it, just yesterday, to a judge of guarantees to decide whether the crime is subject to the application of what type of security measure. coercion. Speaking to the press, Avelino Songue, the minor’s father, claimed that the intention of recording the video was to produce evidence to be presented to the family, in a meeting in which he would be discussed about the conflict environment that took place at home between his wife (stepmother) and her son (her stepson). “The son was questioned by his mother about a situation that occurred at home, he responded in a less polite way, and the mother didn’t like that.
She asked again and he responded in the same way”, he stressed. According to Avelino Songue, her mother decided to take satisfaction and the teenager confronted her, expressing his intention to fight with her. Then they grabbed each other and went to the ground. “When I got close, what occurred to me was to film the incident so that I could later justify to my closest family members what had been happening”, he stressed.
On the other hand, the minor’s father assures that the attacks on his son by his stepmother have not been frequent. However, the relationship between the two is not the healthiest, as expected for any family. “If we could go back, we would have acted differently. Therefore, the feeling I have now is one of sadness and regret, for which I sincerely apologize to the people who viewed the video on social media,” he declared. For her part, the child’s stepmother said that it all started when certain objects, such as men, disappeared at home. She confirmed that when she tries to question the minor about the fact, he gets upset and rebels against her.
“I tried to approach him to reject him and, in response, he slapped me in the face. Then I just knew that I got upset and grabbed him, as it appears in the video”, he stressed. She then added that “when he fell the only thing that appeared were stones and, at that moment, that was when I caught him and hit him in the head. It wasn’t something that was premeditated by me, I just thought that at that moment I was re-educating”.
BY:João Katombela, in Huíla