A Brazilian Referee Was Lynched, Quartered and Beheaded By Spectators At a Match | PIN THAT!

On June 30, 2013, Otávio Jordão da Silva Cantanhede was refereeing an amateur football match at Pio XII, in Maranhão, Brazil. Otávio sent off player Josemir Santos Abreu, 31, who refused to leave the field and began a fight with the referee. Abreu threw a punch, which prompted Otávio to draw a knife from his pocket and repeatedly stab Abreu. Abreu died on the way to the hospital. When fans watching the game, including Santos’ friends and family, found out about the death of Santos, they invaded the pitch and stoned Cantanhede, before decapitating him, quartering him, and putting his head on a stake in the pitch. Police chief Valter Costa was quoted as saying “One crime will never justify another”.

Incidentally…

In October 2013, former Brazilian soccer player João Rodrigo Silva Santos, 35, was beheaded and his head was dumped on his front doorstep. He had been abducted the night before by two men who forced him into a vehicle.

The double murder in Maranhão, Brazil and the second soccer related beheading in less than a year has led to questions regarding the safety of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and indeed, the 2016 Summer Olympics. It should be taken into account, though, that the city of Pio XII has one of the country’s lowest HDI (0.541 = Low Human Development), being located in Brazil’s second poorest state (Maranhão). The situation is much better in the capital cities where the matches will be held, with HDI ranging from High to Very High (~ 0.800).

Source