The video of a woman who took her supposedly dead uncle to the bank to request a loan of $3,200 generated an impact on social networks. The episode took place on Tuesday afternoon, in a bank branch in Bangú, a populous neighborhood located in the western area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The first images that were known showed Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes (42) in front of a desk trying to withdraw a loan in the name of the deceased, Paulo Roberto Braga (68), who was sitting in a wheelchair next to her.
The scandalous situation was noticed by bank employees and ended with the woman being detained.
But now, the Uber driver who took the grandfather and his niece to the bank testified before the local Justice and his testimony seemed to help the detained woman.
She said that the man was indeed alive when he drove by the house to look for him to go to the bank.
In fact, he said that the grandfather and his wife were at the door of the house when the vehicle arrived.
He said he picked up the grandfather and his niece at the house and that Erica's daughters and neighbors helped load the old man into the car.
When it was time to get out,
the driver said Paulo grabbed the car door so he could get out and sit in the wheelchair.
In his statement he did not specify if he noticed anything strange during the trip, nor that the old man did not move as much when getting into the car or when getting out.
In this way, the driver's statement leaves aside the speculation that the old man had been dead for several days and that the woman also took him to the bank to be able to withdraw the equivalent of $3,200.
How the woman got to the bank
Thanks to the security cameras, the exact moment in which Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes arrives at the bank branch with the deceased elderly man was recorded.
In the recording you can see her looking for a wheelchair in the parking lot of a shopping center so she can move the body.
Then, with the help of someone believed to be an Uber driver, he takes him out of the passenger seat with difficulty and places him in the chair, trying to support his head, which tends to tilt.
A couple passing by observes the situation; The man approaches her pointing to her corpse and says something to Erika de Souza, but that did not change the situation.
After that moment, she boards an elevator and is seen carrying the body through the halls of the place towards the bank.
At all times she pushes the wheelchair as if nothing was happening, while she tries to keep her uncle's body as straight as possible.
Although upon being detained, the woman - who claims to be Braga's niece and caretaker - maintained that her uncle was alive upon arrival, these videos could prove otherwise.
The experts reported that, due to the rigidity and symptoms he presented, the man would have died at least two hours before the episode. Although the recent testimony of the Uber driver would open a debate about whether the grandfather was finally dead before entering.