(Newser Summary) – A controversy is brewing in Brazil over a 48-year-old Italian tourist who was arrested for touching and kissing his own 8-year-old daughter, the BBC reports. A couple reported seeing the man touching a young girl inappropriately at a hotel pool, apparently unaware that the girl was his daughter. Under a strict new law designed to combat child abuse, the man faces 8 to 15 years in prison.

The man has been in jail for nearly a week; an attempt this weekend to free him failed. Another will likely be made tomorrow. The misunderstanding happened in part because the man’s wife is Brazilian, so the child has darker skin than he does. His wife says she wouldn’t hesitate to take the daughter’s side if he had touched her inappropriately, but says she was by the pool the entire time.