Nine days after his death, the body of a boy attacked by his father remains at the IML; Justice demands response

Following a request from the defense of Oliver's mother, Mayanna Rodgers, who is also in pre-trial detention, the court gave the IML 48 hours to inform whether there is any pending examination or whether the body can be released for burial. The decision by judge Guilherme Pires Mitidiero, from the 1st Criminal Court of the Viamão Jury Court, is this Friday afternoon, 17th.

In a letter sent to the Court, on Wednesday, the 15th, the management of the Madre Pelletier State Women's Prison, in Porto Alegre, stated that they had not received any request from the Civil Police "to carry out any procedure involving the victim", such as recognizing the boy's body. Estadão tries to contact the police.

According to Oliver's mother's defense, another person in the family could carry out the release procedure at the IML, but they all live in the United States and did not know the child. In Brazil, only the parents, the child and four other siblings lived - who are also the couple's children and are in a shelter.

In the letter, the prison director, Sabrina Varoni Nunes, also expressed her opposition to the mother's attendance at the boy's wake and burial, with no date set yet. "This decision is based on the fact that the person in custody is involved in a crime of great social repercussion, a circumstance that increases threats to her physical integrity, the safety of the escort team and public order, if the extraordinary exit is authorized," he stated.

The risks highlighted by the director also led to the woman's transfer to the Guaíba State Women's Penitentiary. She is in prison on charges of failure to act in her son's death. In testimony, her husband stated that she was in another room at the time of the attacks and had not witnessed the crime. The police are investigating the suspicion of her direct involvement.

Defense criticizes veto on going to the funeral

Mayanna's defense, represented by lawyers André von Berg, Isabel Cochlar and Juliana Braun Martins, claims that preventing the mother from attending her son's funeral would disregard fundamental guarantees and impose an early punishment on her, whom they claim is "the victim of a severe history of domestic violence and false imprisonment imposed by her husband".

"We want to record that her constitutional rights are being disregarded. She is a mother whose son's body is at the Legal Medical Institute", says lawyer Isabel. "Popular commotion does not take away Oliver's right to have his mother at the moment he is buried. In the same way, it does not take away the right of Mayanna, who has no conviction against her, just an accusation, to be at her son's final moment", he explains.

Lawyers also criticize the lack of security argument for vetoing the woman's escort. According to them, it is up to the State to guarantee the viability of the escort and the integrity of everyone involved, "instead of using its own inability to guarantee public safety to restrict the right to mourn."

Remember the case

The boy's father, Dandre Jermaine Grayson, who had already been the target of investigations for suspected abuse of his children in São Paulo and Santa Catarina, told police that he attacked his son after he refused to say "good morning" to him. He also claimed to have punched Oliver in the chest and abdomen, in addition to hitting the boy's head against the floor.

"They were brutal attacks. The child had many marks", delegate Luana Tamiozzo Medeiros, responsible for the investigation, told Estadão. The man must answer for double-degree murder. The boy died after three days in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

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