Woman is shot in the mouth as husband cleans his spear gun



A woman came just millimetres from death after her husband shot her in the face with a spear gun.

Police are investigating how Elisangela Borborema Rosa was shot in the mouth by her husband as he was cleaning the weapon in their kitchen.

Mrs Rosa is expected to make a full recovery, despite the arrow hitting her spine.

‘The peculiarity of the accident is that the tip of the harpoon penetrated the region between her top vertebrae and the spinal cord,’ said neurosurgeon Allan da Costa.

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Miraculous: This image shows how the harpoon spear passed through the 28-year-old woman's mouth and neck. Doctors believe if it came within one centimeter of killing her

‘If the object hit only 1cm to one side the patient would have become a quadriplegic. If it had hit 1cm to the other side or reached one artery to the brain, she would have been dead.’



Mrs Rosa, 28, was rushed to hospital after the shooting in the coastal Brazilian city of Arraial do Cabo on Monday and was initially thought to have little chance of survival.

Miraculously, doctors managed to extract the harpoon without the patient suffering any lasting damage.

‘It is the first case of its kind we have ever had at the hospital,’ said Mr da Costa. ‘She is moving both sides of her body, but having a little difficulty on the right side. We need to wait for the sedation to wear off and the tracheotomy tube to be removed to make a full assessment. If all goes well, she will be discharged in a week.’

Detectives are waiting to hear the victim’s version of what happened.

‘Everything indicates it was an accident, but we are investigating,’ said a police spokesman.

‘We don’t think the husband tried to kill her. But once she fully recovers we will be able to question her and get a clearer picture.’