Brazilian nightclub owner regrets ‘having ever been born’

The owner of the Brazilian nightclub owner where 230 people died in a fire last weekend said he regrets “having ever been born” and blamed “the whole country” for the tragedy, his lawyer said Wednesday.

An investigation surrounding the fire has speculated the flames were caused by flares lit by band members at the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria.

Attorney Jader Marques said his client, Elissandro Spohr, “regretted having ever been born” because of his grief over the fire, but still blamed Sunday’s tragedy on “a succession of errors made by the whole country,” CBS News reports.

Marques told The Associated Press in a phone interview that his client’s responsibility “is having trusted too much in the inspectors and in those responsible for the construction.”

The nightclub owner is at a hospital in police custody, where he’s recovering from a respiratory infection. Police also say he is suffering from depression.

Lilian Caus, one of the officers watching Spohr, said he had made a suicidal gesture, removing a shower hose and tying it to a bathroom window Tuesday, CBS reports.

“By the way it was tied it looked like he wanted to use it to hang himself by the neck, but he didn’t even use it,” Miss Caus said. “There seems to have been the intention to use it.”

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