RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — A young woman has been arrested and charged with stabbing a celebrity Jewish doctor on a Rio de Janeiro street.
Bianca Fares, 22, allegedly attacked Fabio Serfaty, a prominent endocrinologist with celebrity patients who frequently appears as a health expert on television, on Thursday night one block from a Chabad synagogue and the Midrash Jewish cultural center.
Fares is known for dressing as Disney’s “Frozen” character Princess Anna to entertain at children’s parties in Rio, the O Dia daily reported. Her boyfriend also was arrested.
Serfaty, 34, had both lungs perforated in the attack and continues to suffer from severe pain when breathing.
Serfaty allegedly was stabbed after he offered to help Fares, who was crying on the street. She reportedly cursed and, when he left, chased him and committed the crime.
“What a tragic world! If at 22 someone is able to do such atrocity, what can she do later?” read a Facebook post from Serfaty’s father, Alberto, adding: “There are no limits for evil and human cruelty.”
Along with the prominence of the victim, the attack made headlines because it happened in Leblon, Rio’s wealthiest and safest neighborhood, where a seafront penthouse sells for nearly $10 million.
