For over a year she pretended to be a 12 year old girl, living with the couple who had adopted her thinking she was a minor victim of abuse and in need of a family. Instead, behind the false name of Gabrielle, was Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira, a 38-year-old woman, now on trial for fraud in Brazil.
Amanda’s deception
The 38-year-old, arrested last June, pretended to be a defenseless 12-year-old, first deceiving a pastor, to whom she had told about her biological father’s abuse, and then the entire community, so much so that she was welcomed into the house by two spouses. The woman used a fictitious identity to hide her personal data and lived for 14 months as the adopted daughter of a couple in Joinville, in the north of the state of Santa Catarina, constantly playing the part of a child. During the court hearing which took place in recent days, the accused confessed to her deceptions, however rejecting the charge of criminal fraud.
Childhood behaviors
According to the magistrates’ reconstruction, the 38-year-old maintained childish habits and attitudes all along, even too much for the age she claimed to be. To appear credible, she constantly used stuffed animals, pacifiers and bottles, also demonstrating a strong fear of being alone in her room during the night. The couple who had welcomed her informally had prepared a personalized bedroom for her, entirely painted pink and full of toys. The two testified that the woman often demanded that her adoptive mother tuck her in. To justify her adult physical traits, she claimed to be autistic, to suffer from specific pathologies, and said she had been exploited as a child and bombarded with hormone therapies. This series of dramatic stories pushed the couple to protect what they believed was a deeply traumatized child.
The first doubts
The fake child had also managed to block any attempt to get her enrolled in school or to legally regularize foster care, terrifying the adoptive parents with the idea that the biological father could track her down through public records. The first cracks in the wall of lies emerged at the beginning of last summer, when the family noticed some strong behavioral anomalies. Carrying out checks on the web, the spouses came across the news of an identical story and turned to the police. The investigators thus revealed the woman’s true identity, discovering numerous criminal records against her in various areas of Brazil.
The ongoing process
At the request of the defense, the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation and at the same time suspended the judicial proceedings: the outcome of the tests is awaited to establish whether the woman is actually capable of facing trial. Meanwhile, the accused remains in custody in prison. Before the interruption of the case, the defense line had focused on the absence of malice or economic advantages, speaking of a mere subsistence expedient.
“It was the only way he knew to stay alive, and he didn’t cause financial damage to anyone”, declared the lawyer Rafael Luiz Siewert, who then pushed for the medical evaluation, recognizing elements of instability in the woman. A thesis that did not convince the Prosecutor’s Office, which instead believes that the woman is a serial fraudster: even in past years, according to various testimonies, she would have hooked up other families by playing the part of the minor in difficulty.