The Ministério Público do Paraná (MP-PR) formally charged a 31-year-old man with torture and two counts of qualified bodily harm on Tuesday, following the circulation of security-camera footage showing him kicking his three-year-old daughter in the face and chest on a street in Francisco Beltrão. The denunciation, presented by the 1st Promotoria de Justiça of the municipality, also details a pattern of abuse inside the family home, including forcing the girl and her five-year-old brother to kneel on bottle caps, popcorn kernels and beans, and striking the boy’s face with a piece of wood on 2 July. Prosecutors argue the acts were intended to cause intense physical and mental suffering and were aggravated by the children’s extreme vulnerability.

The father, who remains in preventive detention, admitted to the kick captured on video on 5 July, telling investigators he “lost his head” because the child was crying and screaming. He claimed not to remember all the details. The MP-PR’s filing states that the punishment practices, carried out between June and July, had a humiliating and intimidating character and were committed by the very person responsible for the children’s care and protection. The prosecution has asked the court to maintain the man’s pre-trial detention while the case proceeds.

After the video went viral, the children’s mother filed a police report, and the man initially presented himself spontaneously to the authorities before being released. As the investigation advanced, however, the Polícia Civil gathered witness statements, psychological evaluations and photographic evidence of the injuries, leading a judge to order his preventive arrest. The three-year-old underwent a forensic medical examination, the results of which are still pending. A court also granted urgent protective measures for the mother, the two children and other family members.

The denunciation now rests with the judiciary, which will decide whether to accept the charges and convert the accused into a defendant. If the case proceeds, the man will face trial for torture in the form of punishment and for bodily harm committed in a domestic and family setting.