The ruling, dated November 12 and reviewed today, upheld the appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, overturning the decision of the first instance.
The defendant, aged 47, who was previously acquitted by the Aveiro Court in March of aggravated child sexual abuse, has now been sentenced to five years and ten months in prison by the Porto Court of Appeal (TRP).
The man, who had been in pre-trial detention, was also given the additional penalty of prohibition from caring for minors and loss of parental responsibilities over his daughter for nine years.
The court also ordered the defendant to pay the victim, currently seven years old, an amount of 35,000 euros as compensation for moral damages.
The TRP judgment notes that the panel of judges in the first instance committed “numerous errors, affecting various aspects of the probative judgment, unjustifiably disregarding the minor’s statements, failing to credit the minor’s mother, and disregarding the value of forensic examinations in a way not permitted by law.”
The appellate judges further stated that “there is no reasonable level of doubt,” concluding that the evidence produced allows for “a very high probability regarding the facts in question, reflected in the truthful account of the minor, associated with her injury.”
The court now established that the abuses occurred in March 2022, during a weekend when the man had custody of his daughter as per a parental agreement made following the divorce.
The minor underwent a forensic sexual examination, where samples were collected that revealed the defendant’s DNA profile.
During the trial, the defendant admitted the minor spent the afternoon with him but denied any physical contact as per the accusation.
