Famed Brazilian spiritual healer ‘John of God’, accused of sexually abusing hundreds of women, turns himself in to police
- Authorities issued an arrest warrant for 76-year-old ‘John of God’ on Friday
Famed Brazilian “spiritual healer” Joao de Deus, accused of sexually abusing hundreds of women under the pretext of treating them, surrendered to authorities on Sunday.
An arrest warrant was issued Friday for the 76-year-old medium, whose real name is Joao Teixeira de Faria but who is widely known as “John of God”.
For years, he had received thousands of believers each week – including numerous celebrities – at his temple in the town of Abadiania, in Goias state, near the capital Brasilia.
A cellphone video filmed by a journalist and broadcast on the Globo news channel shows a weary-looking, downcast Faria stepping out of a car on an unpaved road before surrendering to waiting police.
Several television stations then broadcast live scenes of his arrival in a police cruiser with tinted windows at police headquarters in Goiania, the capital of Goias.
In the video, Faria is heard saying that when he learned of the accusations against him, “I surrendered to divine justice and, as promised, I now place myself in the hands of earthly justice.”