“I didn’t think to use the pepper spray,” stated Rui Machado, testifying at the Central Criminal Court of Sintra. He noted that he now believes it would not have helped to stop Odair Moniz, 43, from resisting arrest.
He explained the situation, highlighting that the resident of Bairro da Zambujal, also in Amadora, was acting aggressively, and a group of people was approaching the patrol.
The officer also expressed concerns that the pepper spray could have affected the officers themselves.
Rui Machado, 22, largely confirmed the account given earlier by the shooter and sole defendant in the case, Bruno Pinto, but clarified he did not witness the first shot, which struck Odair Moniz in the chest.
“I turned my back to them [to pick up my radio from the ground] and heard a gunshot behind me. I didn’t know who was hit,” he recounted, stating that when he turned back around, he saw the Cape Verdean citizen “in an attacking position,” without mentioning any knife, as Bruno Pinto had claimed to justify the fatal shots.
Rui Machado is accused in another case of providing false testimony about a knife later found at the crime scene.
In the trial that began today, Bruno Pinto, 28, is charged with homicide, facing a potential sentence of eight to 16 years. The prosecution does not mention any knife attack.
The PSP officer, currently free and suspended from duty, also faces a civil lawsuit for more than 200,000 euros filed by the victim’s family.
This afternoon, Odair Moniz’s widow asserted that her husband was “the pillar of the home,” including financially, and that she now has a monthly income of about 400 euros for herself and her two children, aged 21 and four.
In a testimony given in the absence of the defendant, Ana Patrícia Moniz, 37, a kitchen assistant, revealed that she has been on medical leave with depression since her husband’s death, that their eldest son, once cheerful and talkative, now rarely smiles, and the youngest turns off the TV when news about his father appears, asking “why, why, why”.
Regarding the night Odair Moniz was killed, his wife recounted that he left home around 8:30 PM on October 20, 2024, saying he would be back soon, but never returned. She could not explain why, by 5:25 AM the next day, he was near Cova da Moura, where he was shot by the PSP officer after a pursuit over a traffic violation.
The next court session is scheduled for October 29 at the Central Criminal Court of Sintra.
