A 42-year-old Brazilian woman was recently arrested for allegedly bringing a dead man to a bank and trying to obtain a bank loan in his name.
On April 16, Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes arrived at an Itau Unibanco branch in Bangu, Rio de Janeiro to assist 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga in obtaining a bank loan of R$17,000 ($3,200). The elderly man was in a wheelchair and she claimed to be his niece and primary caretaker. Bank employees soon noticed that there was something seriously wrong with Braga, as his alleged niece had to support his head with her hand. He literally showed no signs of life, but Vieira Nunes allegedly kept telling the staff that he was just quiet by nature. She even tried speaking to him although it was obvious he wasn’t capable of answering.
“Uncle, are you listening? You need to sign. If you don’t sign it, there’s no way,” witnesses heard Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes telling the wheelchair-bound man. “I can’t sign for you, what I can do I’ll do. Sign here, same as the document. Sign so you don’t give me any more headaches.”
At one point, one of the bank tellers can be heard saying “I don’t think he is well,” while another begins to record the bizarre scene. Vieira Nunes continues to claim that her “uncle” is fine, just a little quiet, but by this stage, bank employees had already called emergency services and the police.
🇧🇷 | LO ÚLTIMO: Una mujer llevó un cadáver a una sucursal bancaria en Bangu, en la zona oeste de Río de Janeiro, Brasil, para intentar retirar un préstamo de 17 mil reales.
Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes, responsable de cuidar a su tío Paulo Roberto Braga, de 68 años, llevó al… pic.twitter.com/39fdJHNnQd
— Alerta Mundial (@AlertaMundoNews) April 17, 2024
“Uncle, are you feeling something? He doesn’t say anything, that’s just how he is,” the 42-year-old woman allegedly said. ?If you’re not okay, I’m going to take you to the hospital. Do you want to go to the Emergency Room again?”
Poor Paulo Roberto Braga was never going to answer her questions, as paramedics confirmed that he had been dead for at least a few hours. Vieira Nunes was arrested and charged with with vilification of a corpse and attempted fraud.
Today, Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes’ lawyer told Brazilian reporters that the facts had been mispresented by police sources. She claims that Paulo Roberto Braga was alive when Erika brought him to the bank, and that he died during the loan approval process, which will allegedly be confirmed by witnesses. Police, on the other hand, say that the 42-year-old woman knew he was dead when she brought him to the bank and that she only wanted to defraud the institution. Apparently, she wasn’t his niece either, but a more distant relative. It is currently unclear if she was his caretaker.
