Man 'told' to poke toddler with needles

The stepfather of a two-year-old boy claimed he pushed 42 "blessed" sewing needles deep into a toddler because his lover told him to, police in Brazil said today.

Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, a 30-year-old bricklayer, told detectives the woman would enter a trance and "command him to stick the needles in the boy's body", police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana told The Associated Press by telephone.