If I had known then what I know now, I would have taken my son and left the country
No banco das testemunhas de um tribunal do Rio de Janeiro, Leniel Borel descreveu os últimos dias ao lado do filho Henry — os sinais de medo, as marcas no corpo, a resistência da criança em voltar para casa da mãe. O julgamento de Monique Medeiros e Jairinho coloca em exame não apenas os atos dos réus, mas também as escolhas impossíveis que os sistemas de guarda impõem a pais que sentem, mas não conseguem provar, que algo está errado. É o tipo de tragédia que revela como o medo de perder um filho pela lei pode, paradoxalmente, contribuir para perdê-lo para sempre.
- Henry demonstrava ansiedade extrema, marcas no corpo e choro intenso ao ser levado de volta à casa da mãe nas semanas que antecederam sua morte.
- O juiz pressionou Leniel com uma pergunta que não tem resposta fácil: por que ele devolveu a criança mesmo diante de sinais tão evidentes de sofrimento?
- Leniel admitiu que o medo de perder a guarda compartilhada o impediu de agir — uma armadilha legal que ele carrega como culpa desde então.
- Desde a morte de Henry, Leniel afirma sofrer uma campanha de intimidação orquestrada por familiares e advogados dos réus nas redes sociais e em espaços públicos.
- O momento mais devastador do depoimento chegou quando Leniel começou a cantarolar 'Mãezinha do Céu', a música que Henry cantou no último vídeo que o pai gravou dele.
Na noite de uma sexta-feira, Leniel Borel entrou no tribunal vestindo um blazer azul sobre uma camisa com o rosto do filho estampado. Ele estava ali para testemunhar no julgamento de sua ex-mulher Monique Medeiros e do companheiro dela, Jairinho, pelo que aconteceu com Henry.
Leniel descreveu as últimas semanas com o menino: marcas no corpo, choro ao saber que teria de voltar para a casa da mãe, e uma ansiedade crescente que ele tentou interpretar, mas que os outros ao redor minimizavam como reação normal ao divórcio. No último domingo antes da morte de Henry, a criança se agarrou ao pai ao ver a mãe e disse não. Monique respondeu que o menino precisava entender que o mundo não era tão bonito quanto ele pensava.
A juíza Elizabeth Machado Louro confrontou Leniel com a pergunta mais difícil: por que ele devolveu o filho, mesmo vendo aquela resistência? Ele respondeu com uma palavra — medo. Medo de perder a guarda compartilhada caso descumprisse o acordo. Disse que, se soubesse o que sabe hoje, teria pegado Henry e saído do país.
Leniel também relatou uma campanha de assédio que diz enfrentar desde a morte do filho — ataques nas redes sociais, confrontos em transmissões ao vivo e até uma abordagem na Câmara Municipal do Rio, todos ligados a familiares e advogados dos réus. A sessão foi marcada por interrupções constantes da defesa, exigindo intervenções repetidas da juíza.
Mas foi um momento silencioso que atravessou tudo isso. Leniel começou a cantarolar 'Mãezinha do Céu' — a música que Henry cantara no último vídeo que o pai gravou dele. A voz vacilou. O tribunal ficou em silêncio diante daquele detalhe: um pai que filmou o filho cantando, sem saber que seria a última vez que ouviria aquela voz.
Leniel Borel sat in the courtroom on a Friday evening wearing a blue blazer over a shirt bearing his son's face and a plea for justice. He was there to testify about Henry, the boy who died under circumstances that brought him and his ex-wife Monique Medeiros, along with her partner Jairo Souza Santos Júnior—known as Jairinho—to trial. What Leniel described to the jury were the final days he spent with his son, the child's visible dread at having to return to his mother's house, and the last video he recorded of Henry singing.
The week before Henry died, Leniel picked him up from the Majestic condominium in Barra da Tijuca. He noticed marks on the boy's body. Over the previous weekends, Henry had been behaving in ways that seemed wrong—crying when it was time to go back to his mother's place. People around them suggested this was normal for a child whose parents had separated six months earlier, but Leniel saw something else. On that final Sunday, when he was supposed to return Henry to Monique, the boy became anxious the moment he learned he wouldn't be going to his grandmother's house in Bangu instead. During the drive, Henry felt sick. When he saw his mother, he clung to his father and said no. Monique told Leniel that Henry needed to understand that the world wasn't as beautiful as he thought it was, and that she needed to be firmer with him.
The judge, Elizabeth Machado Louro, pressed Leniel on a difficult question: why had he returned the child at all, given Henry's obvious distress and resistance? Leniel's answer was fear. He was afraid of losing shared custody if he violated the agreement with Monique. He said that if he had known then what he knows now, he would have taken his son and left the country.
During his testimony, Leniel also described a campaign of intimidation he says he has endured since Henry's death. Families and lawyers connected to the defendants, he said, have targeted him on social media, demanding investigations into his character, attacking him during live broadcasts, and even confronting him at Rio's city council chamber. The judge had to intervene repeatedly as defense attorneys—particularly Monique's lawyer—interrupted his account, and as prosecutors pushed back.
The moment that broke through all of this came when Leniel began to hum a song. It was "Mãezinha do Céu"—Little Mother of Heaven—the same melody Henry had sung in what would be his final video. Leniel had recorded it. His voice wavered as he spoke about that last recording, the last time he captured his son's voice. The courtroom held the weight of that detail: a father who had filmed his child singing, not knowing it would be the last time he heard him.
Citações Notáveis
The child needs to understand that the sky is not as blue as he thinks it is, and you need to be firmer with him— Monique Medeiros, Henry's mother, to Leniel about how to handle the boy
They make live broadcasts against me, saying I need to be investigated, that I wasn't such a good father. They've gone to the City Council to coerce me— Leniel Borel, describing the campaign against him
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did Leniel return Henry that Sunday, knowing how frightened the boy was?
He was trapped between what he could see—his son's terror—and what he feared losing. The shared custody agreement felt like a legal cage. He thought if he didn't comply, he'd lose access to Henry altogether.
Did he have any sense of what was happening in that house?
He saw marks on Henry's body. He heard about the boy's behavior changing. But he was operating on suspicion and a father's instinct, not proof. The system didn't give him a way to act on what he felt.
What about the judge's question—why return him at all?
That's the cruelest part. The judge asked it as if Leniel had a real choice. But in a custody arrangement, you don't. You follow the order or you become the problem.
And now, after Henry is gone, Leniel says he's being attacked?
Yes. The people connected to the defendants are using social media and public forums to discredit him, to suggest he wasn't a good father. It's a second harm, layered on top of the first.
What does the video of Henry singing mean in this trial?
It's the last proof that Henry existed as a person—singing, alive, his voice captured. For Leniel, it's unbearable to remember. For the jury, it's a reminder of what was lost.