In a verdict dated Friday, obtained by Lusa today, three judges from the Évora Court of Appeal rejected the three appeals filed by the defendant, one of which related to the conviction.
Regarding the Public Prosecutor’s Office appeal, the magistrates partially upheld it, noting a provision of the Penal Code concerning crimes committed “against a particularly defenseless person, due to age, disability, illness, or pregnancy,” in the case of the qualified murder the defendant was convicted of.
They also determined a compensation award for the victim’s two children, currently aged 4 and 7, of 80,000 euros each, overturning the 10,000-euro figure set by the initial ruling.
“Otherwise, maintain the contested decision in full,” the appeal court judges Renato Barroso, Manuel Soares, and Tomé de Carvalho stated in the verdict.
The 45-year-old man, currently in pre-trial detention, was sentenced on March 17 this year by the Évora Court to 23 and a half years in prison for the qualified murder and abortion of his seven-month-pregnant companion in Borba, within this district.
The alleged murder took place on the morning of June 22, 2023, in a remote area known as Alto do Bosque in Borba, with the man being detained by the Judiciary Police on September 27 of that year.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation, on the day of the crimes, the man went to Alto do Bosque and, with an unspecified piercing instrument, struck the victim in the chest, causing her death. Before leaving the scene, he smeared the woman’s blood on a knife and placed it in her right hand.
