**A two-year-old Brazilian boy has undergone a second operation to remove sewing needles pushed into his body by his stepfather.**In a three-hour operation, surgeons took out 14 needles piercing the boy’s liver, bladder and intestines.
Four needles which had come perilously close to his heart and lungs were removed last week. One further operation is still needed.
Stepfather Roberto Carlos Magalhaes said he had wanted to kill the boy.
He said he got the boy drunk on wine before inserting the needles, up to three times in a month, as a way of taking revenge on his wife.
The latest operation comes after Mr Magalhaes, 30, and his lover Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos were formally charged with attempted murder.
X-rays revealed some 30 needles lodged throughout the child’s body.
Some of them are considered harmless, but two needles close to the boy’s spinal column will be taken out in a final operation next week, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Brazilian police said last week the stepfather had confessed to sticking the needles into the toddler with the help of another man and a woman.
Police said Mr Magalhaes, a bricklayer, told them his mistress had urged him to ritually kill the child to take revenge on his wife.
The boy’s mother had taken him to hospital in the north-eastern state of Bahia, suffering from stomach pains and vomiting.
She suspected the child had been the victim of a black magic ritual after she found suspicious objects in the home she shared with Mr Magalhaes - her husband of six months - and her six children.