Man dresses up as his mother to take driving test after she failed three attempts: 'It did not look like a woman'
Heitor Márcio Schiave's mother had already failed three times at her driving test. For her fourth attempt, she arrived two hours late to secure a driving license.
The elderly woman, who hails from the small town of Novo Mutum-Paraná in the Brazilian Amazon, appeared after other candidates had already completed their parallel parking tests and were about to go out on the road, The Guardian reported.
However, everyone present knew something was suspicious about who turned up. Speaking to The Guardian, 38-year-old driving test examiner Aline Mendonça said she "sensed a certain nervousness from the school's owner".
"He said, 'We have a problem'," she said. "It was a guy with a long outfit, heavily made up. It did not look like a woman," Mendonça revealed, recalling how she was unable to believe what she saw.
The woman was apparently a man wearing a long skirt, a floral top, earrings, and a stuffed bra. Furthermore, he was carrying a handbag and had even painted his nails. "I couldn't believe it," Mendonça said and added, "It was surreal."
But the veteran examiner, who had been conducting driving tests for 12 years, kept her calm. After alerting authorities, Mendonça asked "Dona Maria" for the ID and allowed him to start the parking test.
Upon arriving at the scene, police saw Dona Maria exit the vehicle and walk away. However, they soon caught up with him and found that it was, in fact, Maria's son, Heitor Márcio Schiave, a 43-year-old mechanic.
Officers immediately arrested Heitor for fraudulent misrepresentation. "He said he was doing the driving test for his mother — and his mother did not know," the officer who arrested him said.
Schiave has since been released, according to the G1 news site which broke the story. Authorities said he will probably face a fine for his actions.
"We got a lot of criticism — 'Oh the son did it for the love of the mother'. But what if there was an accident or someone died?" Mendonça said.
"You have to earn your pass – the driving test is serious." However, she said it was unlikely that Heitor Márcio would have secured a license for his mother judging by his performance in the parking test.
According to her, the fake Dona Maria "would have failed just the same" even if he had managed to take the test undetected.