The prosecutor’s appeal, dated October 6 and submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice, expressed disagreement with both the specific penalties imposed and the overall sentence judged to be “grossly disproportionate” to the motivations for punishment.
In February, a court in Viana do Castelo found a mathematics tutor guilty of committing 19 counts of child sexual abuse from January 2023 to January 2024. The individual was sentenced to partial terms of one year and six months for each crime, within a framework ranging from one to eight years.
The public ministry seeks to overturn the lower court’s decision, advocating for a revised sentence structure. They propose that the cumulative sentence should not be less than 12 years, even with the individual penalties applied, or, if aggravated, that the overall sentence should not be less than 16 years.
The defendant was also found guilty of 18 counts of child sexual abuse, carrying terms ranging from three to ten years, with partial sentences of three years and six months for each offense.
Additionally, the 48-year-old man faced charges for 23 instances of sexual abuse of dependent minors, receiving sentences between one and eight years, with partial terms of one year and eight months per crime.
The public ministry argues, “The cumulative framework ruled by the court, between three years and six months and 25 years (a maximum resulting from a theoretical sum of 136 years and four months), is grossly disproportionate to the single nine-year prison sentence imposed.”
The ministry insists that the definitive sentence should be assessed between the middle and upper bounds of this range, as the latter is imposed by law, to accurately reflect the significant number of crimes committed.
The prosecution emphasized through its appeal that the defendant is evidenced to have “a clear tendency towards committing offenses against children’s liberty and sexual self-determination” and demonstrated that the previous penalty, insufficient as a deterrence, did not prevent further offenses.
The document further highlights the guile and deliberate thought of the defendant, who “deviously” persuaded the parents into tutoring the minor, and notes his denial of the most serious offenses while admitting to less severe acts.
In April 2018, the defendant had previously been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, suspended for an equal duration, which was terminated on May 21, 2023.
At that time, he had been accused of 82 child sexual abuse crimes and six counts of sexual acts with adolescents, committed against 11 minors.
“Despite this conviction, it was found that the defendant committed further acts under consideration (between January and March 31, 2023) during the period of the suspended execution of that sentence,” the public ministry noted.
Beyond these charges involving the mathematics tutor, there are additional cases under investigation “reported in July 2024” involving four other minors who received tutoring from the accused.
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