Man amputates his own foot to fake being victim of violent robbery

A Brazilian man has been convicted of fraud after he had his own foot amputated to fake being the victim of a robbery so he could get insurance money.

Vanderley dos Santos Gomes had worked as an admin assistant at the Federal University of Reconcavo da Bahia, Brazil, and a court heard that between June and July 2019 he took out four expensive insurance policies which they considered unaffordable for his salary.

The combined insurance policies he took out would have put him in line for R$1.5 million (£220,050) if he ever became permanently disabled.

Three weeks after getting all four of the insurance policies he qualified as permanently disabled when he was found injured in a rural area near the village of Merces, in Sao Goncalo dos Campos without his right foot.

Gomes claimed he'd been the victim of a violent kidnapping and robbery where his attackers had hacked off his right foot with a machete, the belongings he'd reported stolen were later found in a backpack along with his severed foot.

Gomes claimed he'd been the victim of a robbery and kidnapping where they'd hacked off his right foot, that part about him losing his limb was at least true (Newsflash/NX)

Taken to hospital for surgery and medical treatment, it was on 15 August a few days after the alleged attack that the man made his compensation claims to the various insurance companies.

However, Gomes raised some eyebrows among investigators due to the fact that his four expensive insurance policies had been taken out just a few weeks before the robbery he claimed to have suffered.

The very short amount of time between him getting the insurance policies and a seeming tragedy befalling him that would trigger big payments raised some eyebrows.

Police became suspicious that Gomes, despite genuinely losing his right foot, was committing fraud by trying to get his insurance pay-outs in a way that wouldn't cost him an arm and a leg, just a foot.

The man denied planning a fake robbery where his foot had been amputated, and his legal representatives argued he should be acquitted due to insufficient evidence, but judges at the Bahia Court of Justice did not agree.

Judges ruled that the man had arranged to have his own foot amputated to claim insurance money, he was fined and sentenced to community service (Newsflash/NX)

Forensic experts said Gomes didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to his claim kidnappers had hacked off his foot with a machete, as they found the amputation wound was too clean and precise.

Instead, they argued it would have been done with surgical tools in a manner not at all how the man described.

In the end the judges reviewed forensic reports, insurance records, medical evidence and witness testimony until they sentenced Gomes to two years in prison for fraud.

Lawyers said that the case of the man arranging to have his own foot amputated to make it look like he'd been attacked was particularly strange.

The man's sentence was converted into 720 hours of community service and a fine of R$7,590 (£1,113), he started serving that sentence in May this year after all of his attempts at appeals had been exhausted.