STJ annuls case against server who ordered “voodoo” for authorities

The Sixth Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) annulled an investigation that investigated the conduct of the municipal secretary of Health of São Simão, in the interior of Goiás, who ordered “voodoo” work against local authorities. The reporting minister for the case, Laurita Vaz, understood that the performance of witchcraft rituals against other people does not constitute a crime of threat, because for that the promise of serious and fair harm should “have the potential to be implemented, from the perspective of science and the average man”. The vote was followed unanimously by the other magistrates.

>> Be part of the Life and Citizenship channel on Telegram

The case began in 2021, when the mayor of the municipality, the secretary’s uncle, was being investigated on suspicion of sexual crimes against minors. For not conforming with the investigation and afraid of losing her position, the secretary sought out a “macumbeira”, paying R$ 5,000 for her to perform the rituals against the local authorities. The targets of the sorceries were a district attorney, the mayor, an investigative reporter, and other townspeople.

As soon as the case became public, the authorities involved denounced the server for feeling threatened. With that, police officers, with prior judicial authorization, seized the suspect’s telephone device. In addition to the photos of the victims, pornographic images involving teenagers were found.

The first-degree judge accepted the complaint against the secretary and suspended her exercise of public office. The defense, in turn, resorted to TJ-GO and lost. The court saw no illegality in the precautionary measures imposed against the secretary, understanding that there was just cause for the initiation of the police inquiry.

The secretary’s defense then appealed to the STJ, which changed previous understandings and granted habeas corpus to the secretary, with the annulment of the police investigation and search and seizure measures, breach of telephone secrecy and suspension of the exercise of public functions .

Heeding arguments from the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office, the minister understood that there would be a crime of threat if it was intentional and with the purpose of frightening.

“In the case file, the police representation and the accusatory piece failed to point out the Patient’s conduct aimed at causing fear in the victims, since there is no indication in the procedural notebook that the professional hired to carry out the spiritual work sought one of the offended at the order of the Patient, with the purpose of frightening them. There was no mention of the Defendant’s intention to instill fear, but only the contracting of spiritual work was narrated in order to ‘eliminate several people'”, wrote Vaz.

She also stated that the crime of threat “describes that the promised evil must be unfair and serious, that is, it must be serious and believable”, with the potential to materialize, which did not correspond to the case.