I never saw any act, she told the court.
Nanny Thayna reversed her account, stating she never saw Dr. Jairinho abuse Henry and blamed her previous accusations on manipulation and imagination. The nanny requested the mother leave the courtroom, expressing fear and feeling threatened after being used to fabricate abuse allegations.
- Nanny Thayna de Oliveira Ferreira reversed her account on October 6, 2021, at Rio de Janeiro's second criminal court
- She claimed she never witnessed Dr. Jairinho abuse Henry Borel
- She alleged Monique Medeiros manipulated her into false accusations and asked for the mother to leave the courtroom
- Henry Borel died in March 2021 under disputed circumstances
The nanny of Henry Borel changed her testimony at trial, claiming she never witnessed abuse by the stepfather and alleging the boy's mother manipulated her into false accusations.
The nanny who cared for Henry Borel walked into court on Wednesday and dismantled her own previous account. Thayna de Oliveira Ferreira, who had been present in the household where the four-year-old boy lived with his mother Monique Medeiros and her partner Jairo Souza Santos Júnior—a former city councilman known as Dr. Jairinho—told the judge at Rio de Janeiro's second criminal court that she had never actually witnessed the stepfather strike or harm the child.
This was not a small revision. It was a reversal that cut to the heart of the prosecution's case. Before offering this new version, Thayna asked Judge Elizabeth Machado Louro to remove Monique from the courtroom. She said she was afraid. She said she felt threatened by the woman who had employed her.
What emerged from Thayna's testimony was a portrait of influence and suggestion. She described how Monique would come to her, tell her things, try to show her the monster that Jairinho was. The nanny said her own mind became cluttered with these narratives. She began to imagine things. She constructed scenarios in her head. But when she searched her actual memory—when she tried to point to something she had seen with her own eyes—there was nothing there.
"I felt used," Thayna said, explaining what she meant by that word. Monique would arrive with stories and interpretations, painting a picture of cruelty. Thayna's thoughts would fill with dark possibilities. Everything became supposition, she said. Everything was something her mind had built, not something her eyes had witnessed. "I never saw any act," she told the court.
The shift in testimony carries weight because Thayna had been in the home. She had been present during the hours when Henry was in the care of both his mother and Jairinho. If she had seen abuse, that would have been direct evidence. If she had not seen it—if what she had offered before was imagination shaped by Monique's influence—then the foundation of the case changes shape.
Henry Borel died in March 2021. The circumstances of his death have been contested. Jairinho and Monique were both charged in connection with the boy's death, with prosecutors arguing that injuries and trauma inflicted by the stepfather contributed to the outcome. The case has drawn intense public attention in Rio de Janeiro and beyond. Every piece of testimony, every shift in account, matters.
Now the court must reckon with a witness who says she was manipulated into seeing abuse that she did not observe. Thayna's fear of Monique, her request to testify without the mother present, her description of how her own mind was colonized by suggestion—these details complicate the narrative that had been built around what happened in that household. The trial continues, but the ground has moved.
Notable Quotes
I felt used in the sense that she would come, tell me things, try to show me the monster that Jairinho was, and all the bad things would fill my head. It was all supposition. I never saw any act.— Thayna de Oliveira Ferreira, nanny
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would a nanny change her story so dramatically once she's in court?
Fear does things. She said she felt threatened by Monique. Sometimes the full weight of what you've done—accusing someone, being part of a case that led to charges—hits you when you're actually under oath.
But she's claiming she was manipulated. That Monique planted ideas in her head.
That's what she said. That Monique would come to her with stories, interpretations, and Thayna's mind would fill in the rest. She called it imagination. Whether that's true or whether she's recanting under pressure—that's what the court has to figure out.
How does this affect the case against the stepfather?
It removes a key witness who could have testified to direct observation of abuse. If the nanny didn't see anything, the prosecution loses that testimony. They still have other evidence, but this is significant.
Is it possible both things are true—that she saw something and is now recanting?
Absolutely. People recant for many reasons. Fear, pressure, regret, manipulation in the other direction. The court will have to weigh her credibility against the physical evidence and other testimony.
What does her request to testify without the mother in the room tell us?
That she's afraid of Monique. Whether that fear is because Monique threatened her, or because Thayna feels guilty about her role in the accusations, or both—that's unclear. But the fear itself is real.