The judge’s panel stated, “He will return to the prison hospital if he does not comply with the conditions” while delivering the verdict.
The defendant was deemed not criminally responsible based on the results of a psychiatric evaluation.
The sentence of four years in psychiatric internment is suspended on the condition that the man continues psychiatric treatment, attends all consultations and medical exams, follows the therapeutic plan, and remains under the supervision of the Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services.
He was convicted for unlawful entry into a restricted area (one count), simple assault (three counts), aggravated insult (one count), aggravated damage (one count), and possession of a prohibited weapon (one count). He was acquitted of two counts of simple assault, one count of damage, and one theft.
The judges partially upheld the prosecutor’s charges, confirming that on October 28, 2024, the man went to Torres Vedras City Hall (Lisbon district) to demand explanations for his son’s dismissal and carried a pruning sickle hidden in his coat.
The defendant entered the first floor, a restricted area, insulted, threatened, and “struck” various employees with the “cutting object.”
One employee managed to lock herself in a room, leading the man to “force entry,” threaten her, and damage the door.
The court did not find evidence that the defendant attacked a man, damaged a jacket, or stole a pack of cigarettes while at a supermarket’s outdoor cafe in Peniche, with the sickle in his possession.
Before the verdict, the judges made a non-material change to the facts, lessening the charge of assault and recognizing his diminished responsibility due to “mental illness.”
The man was arrested by the police on November 5, 2024, under a search warrant issued by the prosecutor outside of a crime-in-progress and was held in preventive detention.
In July, the coercive measure was changed to house arrest with electronic monitoring, which is now revoked, and to outpatient psychiatric treatment.
