RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuter) In an unprecedented
ruling, a Rio de Janeiro judge ordered the state government to
pay damages to a victim of the city's stray bullet scourge, a
court official said on Thursday.

Paula Virginia Teixeira de Oliveira, 30, a systems analyst,
nearly died in August 1994 when she was wounded in the neck by a
bullet that entered her apartment during a gun battle between
police and drug traffickers in a nearby shantytown.

Judge Carlos Eduardo da Rosa da Fonseca Passos ordered the
Rio state government to pay Oliveira 240,000 reais ($226,415) in
damages as well as reimburse her double the amount she spent on
doctors. He said the state failed in its responsibility to
ensure the safety of its citizens.

``One cannot allow the scandalous and grotesque situation in
which this city finds itself today ... to reach such a point
that people are no longer safe even in their home which,
according to basic law, is the inviolable shelter of the
individual,'' the judge was quoted as saying in O Globo
newspaper.

The Rio state government said it would appeal the ruling,
which sets a precedent for similar cases and could cost the
authorities more money if other stray bullet victims come
forward with similar claims.

Rio de Janeiro's newspapers have told endless stories of
innocent bystanders who were killed or wounded by stray bullets.

The bullets, blamed on the drug trade in the city's
shantytowns and the heavy weaponry used by drug traffickers,
have struck in the most unusual places on the beach, during
circus performances, in the classroom and at bus stops.

Recently, four Rio schools located between two hillside
shantytowns were closed temporarily to protect pupils from being
caught in the crossfire of rival drug gangs.