Doctor who helped Pele father twins on run after sexually assault, rape convictions
By ANIMonday, January 24, 2011
LONDON - A leading doctor, who helped football legend Pele to father twins in his 50s, is on run after being convicted of sexually assaulting or raping 39 of his female patients at his clinic in Sao Paulo, Brazil, between 1995 and 2007.
Roger Abdelmassih, 67, was sentenced to 278 years in prison in November last year after he was found guilty, but was allowed to remain free pending the result of an appeal and has now disappeared from his home, The Telegraph reports.
The doctor is famous across Brazil after helping a number of high-profile Brazilians to have children through fertility treatment, most notably in 1996, when Pele became a father again at the age of 55.
The football legend’s second wife Assiria Seixos Lemos gave birth to twins, a boy Joshua and a girl Celeste, after treatment with Abdelmassih.
Pele had undergone a vasectomy after having three children with his first wife.
In an interview after Abdelmassih’s arrest, Pele’s second wife described the doctor as “a very dear and special person.”
Abdelmassih also counts Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil from 1990 to 1992, and a number of Brazilian television presenters among his clients. (ANI)
