A 48-year-old man in Brazil has been arrested over allegations that he sexually abused his daughter for 17 years, beginning when she was 12, and may have fathered her four children.
The woman, now 29, reportedly disclosed the alleged abuse to relatives while her father was serving a prison sentence for an unrelated offence.
She allegedly told police that her father repeatedly threatened to kill her if she reported the abuse.
The man was arrested last Friday in Anapolis, in the central Brazilian state of Goias, after investigators began looking into the allegations.
Police said at least one of the woman’s four children, aged between one and 11, was allegedly conceived as a result of the abuse. DNA testing is now being carried out to determine whether the man is the biological father of the other three children.
The allegations reportedly resurfaced after the man was released from prison for the separate offence and allegedly went looking for his daughter.
Police allege he threatened to take the children away from her unless she returned to live with him. She subsequently moved back into the property where she lived with her father and the children.
The woman told investigators that the alleged sexual abuse continued until recently and described her father as violent, aggressive and controlling.
The suspect has denied the allegations and refused to provide a biological sample. He also declined to give a statement to investigators, saying he would speak in court instead.
Police have seized personal belongings from the suspect in an attempt to obtain genetic material that can be compared with samples from the children.
The Child and Adolescent Protection Police in Anapolis applied for his preventive detention, which was granted by a domestic violence court.
The man remains in custody, while the woman and her four children have been placed under protective care.
