Brazilian man faces charges for attack on ex-girlfriend

SAO PAULO – A man shown on security footage violently attacking a woman at a bar in a small town in southeastern Brazil will be charged with assault and battery, police said Tuesday.

Images aired by the Globo TV network show Kelvin Luiz Assis Soares, a 24-year-old stonemason, repeatedly slapping, punching and kneeing his 18-year-old former girlfriend in the head and chest.

Police inspector Darlene Rocha Costa said by telephone the incident occurred last week in the town of Alvaro de Carvalho but the images were only made available on Monday.

Costa said the young woman, with whom Soares has a 3-year-old daughter, waited two days to file a complaint because she was too scared to show up at the police station. The name of the woman, who has left town, was not released.

Costa said a restraining order prohibits Soares from approaching the woman.

Last year, Brazil recorded 76,571 cases of violence against women, according to the government’s Women’s Assistance Center. The Center also said that the number of reported cases of sexual violence and harassment and rapes increased almost 130 per cent over 2014.