A 41-year-old man, previously sentenced to imprisonment for multiple violent crimes and who had been on the run, was apprehended by the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) on Wednesday in Póvoa de Varzim.
In a communiqué issued to Notícias ao Minuto, the PJ disclosed that the convict, “previously sentenced to effective imprisonment,” had escaped “house arrest” to perpetrate further crimes, including the torture of a 70-year-old man on January 19th in Guimarães.
The man, already sentenced to more than 15 years of imprisonment previously, had accomplices in this case, who entered the elderly man’s home “hooded, restraining, and gagging” the victim with the intention of stealing money and valuable possessions.
According to investigators, the elderly victim was “tortured” by the attackers with a bladed weapon, resulting in “multiple cuts to the upper limbs,” and was doused with alcohol under the threat of being set alight.
Having seized the victim’s possessions, valued in the thousands of euros, the assailants fled to an unknown location, leaving the elderly man immobilized.
During their investigation, authorities identified one of the suspects as the fugitive.
Subsequent to his capture, inspectors confiscated from the convict several firearms, ammunition, a katana, and various objects related to the criminal acts.
The man has been returned to Braga Prison, where he is again under incarceration.
