Statistics were presented today during a seminar on domestic violence held at the Polícia Judiciária headquarters in Lisbon by criminal investigation coordinator Pedro Maia. Maia emphasized that “the context of domestic violence is significant and impactful.”
The data reveals a total of 588 investigations conducted by the Polícia Judiciária, of which 145 were inquiries into homicide in the context of domestic violence, making up 24.65% of the total.
In the first three months of the year alone, the Polícia Judiciária recorded 41 homicidal inquiries, with six involving domestic violence contexts.
These six inquiries involved seven victims, six women and one man, although the data does not specify how many victims were minors.
Geographically, in the first three months of the year, two domestic violence-related homicide inquiries pertained to Setúbal, another two to Lisbon, and one each to Porto and Braga.
Analyzing the weaponry in these crimes between 2020 and the first quarter of 2025, knives were identified in 51 inquiries, firearms in 37, and physical force, often through asphyxiation, in 26 inquiries.
At the same seminar, the Attorney General advocated that in domestic violence cases, it should be the aggressor, not the victim, who leaves the house and family environment, urging changes to this effect.
“I aim to sensitize the Minister of Justice that, in my view, it is the aggressor who should leave the house, not the victim. The current situation makes no sense and needs reconsideration,” Amadeu Guerra argued.
