A Brazilian maid who reportedly spent nearly 40 years in servitude was finally rescued from her captors late last month.
The woman, now 46, was just 8 years old when her destitute mother handed her over to Dalton Cesar Milagres Rigueira, a professor at Patos de Minas University, otherwise known as UNIPAM, authorities say.
Rigueira’s mother raised the young child, and she’s spent the past 38 years working for the family without pay or any time off. She was relegated to a life of cleaning and even forced into marriage.
Brazilian news site Fantastico broke the news on Dec. 20 and identified the woman as Madelena Gordiano. According to the reports, she is a Black woman. During her captivity, Gordiano was granted limited freedoms and remained under constant watch by the family.
Brazilian Woman Freed After 40 Years Of Domestic Slavery And Forced Marriage By A Professor And His Family
KEY POINTS
She was forced into a marriage with an elderly man
The professor has been suspended by Unipam
Brazilian officials on Monday said a woman was rescued after she was found to be enslaved as a maid, beginning at age 8, for almost 40 years by a professor and his family in Patos de Minas.
The woman, whose name has been withheld to protect her identity, was found holed up in small room in an apartment in Minas Gerais. According to Thomson Reuters Foundation, the woman has not been paid or given time off for most of her life.
Brazil investigates rescue of maid enslaved for nearly 40 years
By Reuters
Fabio Teixeira
Rio de Janeiro - A Brazilian woman enslaved as a maid from the age of eight for almost four decades and forced into marriage has been rescued in a rare crackdown on domestic slavery, officials said on Monday.
The 46-year-old was found living in a small room in an apartment in Patos de Minas, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. She had worked for the family for most of her life without pay or any time off, according to labour inspectors.
The victim was given up as a child by her destitute parents to the family of Dalton Cesar Milagres Rigueira, a university professor at Unipam, and raised by his mother, inspectors said.
Madalena Gordiano was enslaved as a maid from the age of eight in Brazil, according to officials
Now 46-year-old was found living in a room in an apartment in Minas Gerais
Investigators say Gordiano was employed by a family who did not pay her or provide time off
Inspectors said Gordiano was taken in by the Milagres Rigueira family after her mother gave her up for adoption
She was forced into marriage with an elderly man related to the family but never lived with him
3 months old
This article is more than 3 months old
Professor and family face up to eight years in prison for their treatment of woman given to them as a child
Brazillian officials say domestic servitude is difficult to tackle. Photograph: FG Trade/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Brazillian officials say domestic servitude is difficult to tackle. Photograph: FG Trade/Getty Images/iStockphoto
ReutersinRiodeJaneiro
Mon 21 Dec 2020 16.30 EST
Last modified on Mon 21 Dec 2020 16.44 EST
A Brazilian woman enslaved as a maid from the age of eight for almost four decades and forced into marriage has been rescued in a rare crackdown on domestic slavery.