Minister rapporteur cited family formation to recognize the case as “very exceptional”; process is being carried out under judicial secrecy
The 5th Class of (Superior Court of Justice) on Tuesday (June 9, 2026), unanimously, that there was no rape of a vulnerable person in the relationship between an 18-year-old young man and a 13-year-old girl in Paraná. The case is under judicial secrecy.
During the session, the Public Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal was denied and the acquittal of an accused man was maintained, whose identity was not disclosed.
According to Brazilian law of the Brazilian Penal Code (Art. 217-A), having sexual relations with minors under 14 years of age constitutes the crime of rape of a vulnerable person, even with the consent of the victim or the consent of the parents.
However, according to the rapporteur, Minister Messod Azulay Neto, in this specific case, the defendant’s arrest would “breaking apart the family nucleus, taking the father away from his son and his mother, turning it into an even greater tragedy”being a case “very exceptional”.
“The defendant always worked as a Ceasa porter and a bricklayer’s assistant. There are no notes on his certificate. And the most important thing of all is that they form the family nucleus. […] they are only 5 years apart. There is no violence, there is no abuse, there is a stable relationship”he stated. “It seems to me that distinguishing (distinction, in English) cannot fail to be done. […] but at this moment I am maintaining the acquittal of the defendant in very exceptional cases.”
Azulay Neto mentioned as justification the distinguishinglegal technique used that rejects the application of a precedent or summary binding to a specific case. The technique is used when a judge or court identifies that the current situation has particularities that justify a decision contrary to what would normally be applied.
