“I never assaulted clients or staff at that establishment,” the defendant stated at the start of the trial where he faces charges for five counts of physical assault.
The defendant, the only one who spoke, emphasized that he stopped working as a security officer at that location on October 15, 2023.
The defendants, aged 32, 34, and 48, residents of Esmoriz, Penafiel, and Porto, were arrested on January 9 by the PSP as part of a six-month investigation that implicated them in multiple assaults occurring between June 2023 and March 2024.
Two of the three defendants are facing five charges of physical assault and are currently free with conditions of identity verification and residence.
The other defendant, held in preventive detention, is charged with 15 counts of physical assault.
According to the indictment, over nine months, the three security guards, with the help of other unidentified colleagues, assaulted more than a dozen clients with punches and kicks at a nightlife venue in Vila Nova de Gaia.
During the first hearing of the trial, one female client, allegedly assaulted and now a protagonist in the case, testified that she was physically attacked by several security guards, including two of the defendants.
The witness, present in the venue with four family members—who were also allegedly assaulted—narrated that a disagreement between her nephew and a musician led to an intervention by two security guards to eject the group. The situation escalated when her sister and brother-in-law refused to leave, resulting in them allegedly being punched and kicked. The witness claimed she also received a punch in the face, fell, and fractured her foot, requiring surgery and six months of recovery.
Another regular patron of the bar testified he was assaulted by uniformed security guards 50 meters from the establishment’s exit following an argument.
The patron recounted that after being searched upon entry and getting into a verbal altercation with another client, he was approached by a security guard and left. Shortly after, three security guards, including two of the defendants, chased him and his accompanying brother.
“They did not speak, they immediately resorted to aggression,” he reported.
Questioned by the defense lawyers, the witness admitted being unable to specify which of the three security guards assaulted him as well as his brother, who “exchanged punches” with one of the involved parties.
None of the witnesses heard this morning identified the defendant who, at the start of the hearing, denied any involvement in the assaults.
