A teenage girl in Brazil has allegedly confessed to torturing her five-year-old brother to death before eating his severed penis.

Police are investigating the possibility that the crime was linked to a black magic ritual because the body was found on the floor surrounded by several candles.

Maycon Roque’s heavily mutilated body was found by his mother last Thursday night after a relative broke into the family house in Sao Roque, southeast Brazil, to find 18-year-old Karina standing beside the child’s remains.

Detectives said the victim’s corpse was found with grotesque injuries, reports the dailymail.co.uk.

His head had been partially decapitated, there were knife wounds to his wrists, both eyeballs had been pierced, his feet had been burned.

Karina then allegedly claimed she had ‘cut off her brother’s genital organs and eaten them.’

According to police, Karina’s mother had gone out shopping, leaving her son in the daughter’s care. 

When she returned a couple of hours later, she discovered the front door locked.

Local media reports that Karina refused to let her mother in, prompting the desperate woman to fetch her brother-in-law, who kicked the door down. 

They horrific scene was so macabre that the mother, who police have not named, had to be supported by neighbours after she passed out from the shock.

The suspect allegedly tried to escape when her uncle and other relatives attempted to restrain her.

Detective Anderson Góes said: ‘They tried to prevent her from running but she apparently became very aggressive and started throwing objects.

‘Her uncle was hit and injured by a stone and she bit the family dog which attacked her while she was being restrained by relatives.’

Police say Karina later admitted that she lured her brother into her bedroom by pretending they were going to play a game, then suffocated him with a pillow.

Preliminary examinations indicate the child was dead before his body was brutally maimed and his body parts cannibalised.

Forensic investigators reportedly found a burned cell phone, a memory card, a penknife and a small amount of marijuana in the house.

Detective Goes said: ‘We believe the cell phone belongs to the suspect and was deliberately damaged by her to possibly destroy any evidence of online contacts.

‘We are investigating if the child was killed during some kind of devil worshipping ritual. We want to know if the accused had links on social networks to a group of Satanists or black magic practitioners and if she was encouraged or incited by someone to commit the crime.

‘She will also undergo tests to see if she is under the influence of drugs.’

Both the phone and memory card have been sent for analysis.

Family members reportedly told police the teen had never given any problems before, was quiet and reserved and had ‘always taken care of her brother’.

The suspect has been charged with murder and the attempted murder of her uncle. She is being held in isolation in a cell at Votorantim Women’s Prison in Sao Paulo and placed on suicide watch.

The victim was buried on Friday morning. No family member wanted to be identified or to comment on the tragic case.