Henry Borel's father demands 'exemplary conviction' as retrial begins

Five years after his son's death, Leniel Borel stood outside a Rio de Janeiro courtroom on a Monday morning in May, waiting for a new jury trial to begin. The boy, Henry, had been four years old when he died on March 8, 2021, in an apartment with his mother and her partner. Now, as a city councilman, Borel was demanding what he called exemplary justice—a conviction proportional to what he described as the brutality of his son's final hours.

The medical facts were stark. Henry died from a lacerated liver and internal bleeding caused by blunt force trauma. But the autopsy revealed twenty-three additional injuries across his small body. When Borel spoke to reporters before the trial began, he recited these details with the precision of someone who had carried them for half a decade. He described a death that was agonizing, that involved screaming, that happened in front of witnesses who did nothing to stop it. His son had called for help that night. No one came.

The defendant was Jairo Souza Santos Júnior, known as Jairinho, the former city councilman and Henry's stepfather. Henry's mother, Monique Medeiros, a former municipal schoolteacher, had been present in the apartment. The prosecution was preparing to introduce evidence that had not been made public before—new conversations, new allegations. Borel hinted at something darker still: another child, a girl, whom Jairinho had allegedly burned. That case, he said, had never been properly investigated. The mother had stayed silent. But Borel had waited five years, following his lawyers' counsel, holding back his strategy. Now he intended to speak.

He also raised questions about the days immediately after Henry's death. Both Jairinho and Monique had erased their phone records between March 8 and March 12. Why? Borel asked. What were they trying to hide? He spoke of networks Jairinho had tried to activate, of political connections, of attempts to keep the body from reaching the medical examiner's office. These were not new allegations—they had circulated for years—but Borel was signaling that this trial would lay them bare.

Jairinho's defense team, led by attorney Rodrigo Faucz, announced they would request an adjournment. One of their lawyers, Fabiano Lopes, had suffered a heart attack the previous Saturday. But Faucz acknowledged the request would almost certainly be denied. The judge, Elizabeth Machado Louro, had already rejected similar motions. Jairinho himself, Faucz said, wanted the trial to proceed. He wanted to be judged. He wanted clarity.

The defense had been arguing for months that they lacked full access to evidence—specifically, to Leniel Borel's computer and one of his phones. Even after a court order directing the civil police to provide all materials, they claimed gaps remained. They would continue to protest what they called arbitrariness in the process. But the trial would go forward.

Monique's legal team offered a different narrative. She too was a victim, they argued. She had not known what Jairinho was doing to the boy. The abuse had happened without her knowledge. Over five years, they said, the media had obscured facts that would prove her innocence. The jury would see what had been hidden. This was their line of defense: that a mother could be present in an apartment where her child was being fatally beaten and bear no responsibility for it.

The trial was expected to last between five and ten days. After five years of delays, motions, and procedural battles, the case would finally be heard by a jury. Borel had waited long enough. He wanted an end to the story—but only if it ended the way he believed justice demanded.