Brazil asked to help with return of rapist

THE Government has requested the Brazilian embassy to ask a countryman who failed to show at the inquest of the 14-year-old girl he raped to return to Ireland voluntarily for questioning.

On Friday, officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs met Brazilian ambassador Stelio Marcos Amarante to ask for his co-operation in assisting in the return to Ireland of convicted rapist Weldos Froitas Cavalcante.

Last week, at the inquest into the death of Jamie Maughan, the girl he raped, it emerged the Brazilian embassy facilitated Cavalcante’s repatriation. This was despite the fact gardaí seized his passport to ensure he responded to the summons to attend the Coroner’s Court.

Mr Amarante claimed the Government and gardaí were aware of the embassy’s intention to provide Cavalcante with a ticket home to Brazil following his release in January after serving his sentence for statutory rape.

Cavalcante, in his 20s, had been in a relationship with Ms Maughan, who was found dead in the garden of a derelict house near where he lived in Co Cavan a week after her disappearance. She had enough ecstasy in her body to kill her.

Cavalcante has denied supplying the ecstasy.

Yesterday a spokesperson for Mr Ahern said of the meeting with Mr Amarante: “The ambassador was asked to assist in addressing the concerns of Ms Maughan’s family and other official concerns. Cavalcante could return voluntarily to answer questions.”

Gardaí have said there is no legal mechanism which could have kept Cavalcante in the country following his prison release. It is therefore unclear what obligations, if any, the Brazilian Embassy now has in the case.