Kaylanne Timóteo Freitas was 15 years old when a shark attacked her at Piedade Beach, in Jaboatão dos Guararapes, Brazil. The animal tore off her left arm. What came afterward was almost worse than the attack.
The young woman sued the State of Pernambuco and the municipality, accusing them of having abandoned the official shark monitoring program since 2014 and of failing to put up danger signs at the exact spot where she was swimming. Judge Juliana Rodrigues Barbosa’s response was devastating: Kaylanne ‘assumed the risk’ by entering the sea in an area ‘notoriously dangerous.’ No compensation. Exclusive fault of the victim. 😡
What the ruling ignored: her lawyer says there was no sign prohibiting swimming in that specific stretch, that there were dozens of people in the water at that moment, and that the canceled program was exactly the one that warned about new risk areas. The defense has already appealed. And justice? 🦈
