You can read the whole story in more detail here. I’ll just summarize it:

In 2010, a man named Rafael Tadeu de Oliveira was sentenced to 36 years and 8 months in prison for the rape and murder of a nine-year-old boy.

During the case, Oliveira’s aunt revealed to the court that Oliveira had once attempted to rape his own five-year-old nephew during a stay at his brother’s home. He once casually divulged to his aunt that, while in the process of burglarizing a house, he raped a young child in the child’s bedroom. Additionally, he had once gotten into a conflict with his employers after he was accused of abusing a 3-year-old child.

While incarcerated, Oliveira began identifying as a woman, and he changed his name to Suzy de Oliveira.

On March 1, 2020, an interview with Oliveira was aired on the Brazilian TV show Fantástico (which is broadcast on the Globo network) as part of an episode/report entitled “Trans women prisoners face prejudice, abandonment, and violence”. The episode/report was meant  to invoke empathy and raise awareness about the plight of trans inmates housed in men’s prisons.

No mention of Oliveira’s past as a child rapist was made during his interview.

The man who conducted the interviews, Dr. Antônio Drauzio Varella, even hugged Oliveira during his interview.

Viewers were so moved by Oliveira’s tale of loneliness behind bars  that they made his name trend on Twitter, and they sent him 235 letters, 16 books, two Bibles, cosmetics, and chocolates within a span of just five days. Some of the items were sent by children at the encouragement of teachers and religious groups.

On March 8, news website The Antagonist revealed that the inmate who had charmed the nation is a child rapist and  murderer. There was anger across social media from viewers who felt betrayed and manipulated by the original episode/report. Some even called for Globo’s closure and revocation of Dr. Drauzio Varella’s license.

In an attempt to mitigate the damage to his image, Dr. Drauzio Varella issued a statement: “For over 30 years, I’ve been going to jails, where I deal with the health of male and female inmates. Everywhere I practice medicine, whether in my office or in prisons, I do not ask what my patients may have done wrong. I  follow this conduct so that my personal judgment does not prevent me from fulfilling the oath I took when I became a doctor. In my work on  television, I follow the same principles. In the case of Fantástico’s report last week, I did not ask about the crimes committed by the women  interviewed. I’m a doctor, not a judge.”

Dr. Drauzio Varella later issued an apology to the family of the deceased boy.

Ms. Aparecida dos Santos, the mother of the deceased boy, told the press that she was shocked to see the rapist and murderer of her child portrayed as a victim by Globo. She was especially upset that, while the child killer had received a hug and hundreds of kind letters, she had received no such love and support from the public in response to the loss of her child.

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I’d like to add this comment made on the article: