Woman who survived 61 elevator beatings says she won't be silenced: "It didn't work, but I'm alive."
A businesswoman from Natal had four facial bones broken in a brutal attack committed by her ex-boyfriend.
247 - Businesswoman Juliana Garcia dos Santos, 35, broke her silence after surviving a brutal attempted femicide perpetrated by her ex-boyfriend, former basketball player Igor Eduardo Pereira Cabral, 29. In an interview with... Spectacular SundayFrom Record, she sent a direct message to the aggressor: "I want him to know that it didn't work out, that I'm alive." The incident, recorded by security cameras in an elevator in Natal (RN), was reported by CNN Brazil.
The assault lasted exactly 36 seconds, from the 16th floor to the ground floor of the building where Juliana lived. During that time, Igor delivered 61 punches to the businesswoman, breaking four bones in her face. He was arrested on the spot for attempted femicide, but the victim's pain and trauma persist. Juliana needed to undergo facial reconstruction surgery and, despite the physical and emotional scars, has used her voice to warn other women about the dangers of silence."It wasn't my fault, and the victim will never be to blame.""She said that today she sees herself as a symbol of resistance." "I have no choice but to be strong.", she declared. Even in the face of the horror she experienced, Juliana defines herself as "a free woman full of dreams".
According to her, the decision to remain in the elevator was strategic and may have been vital in ensuring the assault was documented and Igor was arrested. "I knew there were no cameras outside the elevator.""She explained. Upon realizing that the aggressor was agitated, she tried to prevent him from entering her apartment. At that moment, she used gestures and glances to signal to the camera in the booth, in a desperate attempt to attract the attention of the doorman.""I gestured to the camera, I pointed at it. I wanted them to understand that something was happening.""He recounted. After the series of punches, the aggressor coldly left the elevator." "Calm, adjusting his flip-flop, as if nothing had happened."
Juliana also revealed that this was not the first time Igor had committed such an act of aggression. Their relationship, which lasted almost two years, was marked by excessive jealousy and violence. According to her, her ex-partner had already broken two of her cell phones and physically assaulted her seven months before the attack recorded on video. "His jealousy was so intense I'd rate it an 11 on a scale of 0 to 10.", reported.
On the day of the crime, the argument began when Igor accused her of infidelity and threw her cell phone into the building's pool. Inside the elevator, before starting the assault, he threatened her: "Then you will die."
The former player told authorities he suffers from claustrophobia. However, to date, no medical report has been presented to support this claim. The chief of police of Rio Grande do Norte, Ana Cláudia Saraiva, classified the episode as a... "atrocity, savagery, an act of cowardice"She emphasized that reporting is essential to breaking the cycle of violence and should be a collective commitment of society.
