Brazil: Referee Beheaded After Killing Player At Soccer Match

It’s kind of a long-standing black humor joke that people in South America take soccer (or football, there) way too seriously. That sentiment seems to have proven true again, but there’s nothing funny about a referee being beheaded and butchered after murdering a player during a match.

Yeah, you read that right.

Octavio da Silva Catanhede Jordan was reportedly cut up by a violent mob last week when an amateur soccer match spiraled into chaos. The 20-year-old reportedly attacked player Josenir dos Santos Abreu with a knife after a heated argument.

Santos Abreu was pronounced dead on arrival by a local hospital.

What happened just afterwards was somehow worse.

After family and friends witnessed the attack, they invaded the pitch to lynch Catanhede. The referee was beheaded and gruesomely quartered by the mob. They later put his head on a stake.

Police chief of Santa Ines in Maranhão Valter Costa said that the authorities are investigating the situation and questioning suspects.

“Reports of witnesses have indicated some people that were in place at the time of the fact. We will identify and hold accountable all those involved. A crime will never justify another. Actions like this do not collaborate with the legality of a state law.”

One man has already been arrested, and police are looking at two others.

Sure, sometimes we might say we want to see a referee beheaded, but goodness gracious, Brazil.

[Image via: Stokkete / Shutterstock]