The verdict reading took place this afternoon at the Matosinhos Court, where the presiding judge emphasized that the defendant knew she “could cause death, an outcome she intended but failed to achieve due to circumstances beyond her control.”
The defendant was charged with attempted murder and making threats. She was sentenced to five years and six months for the first charge but acquitted of the second.
The prosecution stated that the defendant and the victim had been in a relationship for two years, characterized by “frequent conflicts.”
On August 14, 2024, according to the prosecution, after another conflict inside their home, “the defendant insulted her partner, threatened him, and assaulted him with a decorative object [a wooden parrot],” then grabbed a kitchen knife with a 15-centimeter blade and inflicted several wounds (12) on the upper part of his body.
In determining the sentence, the court noted that the defendant “confessed to most of the facts” and, while acknowledging diminished responsibility, concluded that it did not prevent her from “understanding what she was doing.”
“The defendant acted freely, deliberately, and consciously (…). She displays a dysfunctional personality with immaturity, instability, fear of abandonment, and impulsiveness,” the judge stated.
When asked if the sentence would be appealed, the defendant’s lawyer, Cristina Martinho, confirmed: “We did not expect it to be effective, meaning we expected the sentence to be less than five years to allow for suspension.”
“We will certainly appeal to a higher court. Considering the penal framework of two years and something up to 16 years, the sentence was not, obviously, severe,” she noted.
However, she mentioned, “considering the proven reduced accountability, there may be a possibility on appeal for the sentence to be reduced and suspended.”
During the trial, the defendant, who was in preventive detention, stated that “she lived in hell, had no life, and was trapped in the apartment.”
The defendant admitted to feeling jealous of her partner but claimed he also controlled her: “He didn’t want me to work, I was trapped in the apartment, I became depressed, gained a lot of weight, and he criticized my body, and I retaliated by insulting his, and he told me that in China they killed women who said such things.”
The victim did not respond to the court’s questions but claimed to have forgiven the defendant and expressed a desire to marry her.
“I want contact. When I visited her family in Brazil, it was because we were going to marry. I went to Fátima to pray for us in February. I forgave my girlfriend,” he said.
