Fernando Valente, currently under house arrest, has been transported in handcuffs by police vehicles between his residence in Vila Nova de Gaia and the Aveiro Court, where the trial for the murder of Mónica Silva, a pregnant woman from Murtosa missing since October 2023, is ongoing.
“Assuming that this decision might relate to some security regulation associated with the transport of the defendant in police vehicles, the judge presiding over the case has requested that the police forces clarify the reasons related to the treatment the defendant is subjected to (handcuffing),” stated a communiqué from the presiding judge of the Aveiro District Court.
In the note, Judge Jorge Bispo also noted that the court had only determined that the authorized outings from the defendant’s residence for appearances in procedural acts and related proceedings be conducted under physical surveillance, “given the social alarm associated with the crimes he is accused of.”
According to the judge, this police accompaniment aims merely to “prevent any public action that might be directed against him, with no directive from the presiding judge of the case for the defendant to be accompanied using handcuffs.”
Jorge Bispo further mentioned that the judge presiding over the case requested the best efforts to comply adequately with the request, should a better form of adjustment in the actions of the police elements be concluded.
The trial, conducted with a jury (comprised of three career judges and eight jurors), is proceeding behind closed doors, without public or media presence, as the presiding judge decided to exclude publicity from the trial hearing and other procedural acts to protect the personal dignity of the victim concerning other involved parties, notably her children.
Fernando Valente, who had a romantic relationship with the victim resulting in pregnancy, is charged with the crimes of qualified homicide, abortion, desecration of a corpse, unauthorized access, and acquiring counterfeit currency for circulation.
The defendant, under house arrest, was detained by the Judiciary Police (PJ) in November 2023, more than a month after the disappearance of the 33-year-old woman, who was seven months pregnant at the time.
The prosecution accuses the defendant of killing the victim and the fetus she carried on the night of October 3, 2023, in his apartment in Torreira, to avoid being attributed paternity and benefit from her assets.
The accusation also states that in the early hours of October 4 and the following days, the defendant allegedly disposed of the victim’s body, taking it to an unknown location, concealing it, and preventing it from being found to date.
