A former international basketball player has been arrested after allegedly disfiguring his girlfriend’s face with 61 punches.
Igor Eduardo Pereira Cabral found himself behind bars after launching a vicious attack on the victim in a lift on Saturday (26 Jul).
The athlete was apprehended at the scene after a security guard witnessed the attack on CCTV and called the police.
Juliana Garcia was taken to hospital, suffering from multiple fractures to her face and jaw.
She is scheduled to undergo surgery this week to repair extensive bone damage and currently cannot speak, instead communicating with law enforcement through written notes.
Her solicitor, Caroline Mafra, told the press: “She suffered multiple fractures to her face – not to mention, of course, the psychological scars left by such a violent experience.”
Cabral, 29, told police he experienced a “claustrophobic episode” during the incident.
He further claimed that Garcia had provoked him by insulting him and ripping his shirt just before the attack in their flat complex in Natal, Brazil.
But Garcia, 35, said the altercation erupted when Cabral became irrationally jealous over an innocuous text conversation she had with one of his mates.
Garcia, who works in sales, chillingly recalled to officers: “He told me I was going to die and just kept hitting me non-stop.”
Cabral is now facing charges of attempted femicide, as per NeedToKnow’s report.
As a professional 3×3 basketball player, Cabral represented Brazil at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.
Authorities have noted his tendency for physical confrontations, with Garcia having previously accused him of pushing her and inflicting severe psychological harm.
Their tumultuous two-year romance was characterised by a cycle of separations and make-ups.
Garcia disclosed to the authorities: “He’d been aggressive in the past, but I never thought it would come to this.”
The headline screams of an ex-sportsman taken into custody for brutally disfiguring his wife with 60 blows.
