The Court of Aveiro today sentenced seven of the 15 defendants in the “Golden Web” case, related to dozens of violent robberies carried out in 2022, mainly at the homes of elderly people in the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra, to prison terms.
The defendants were accused of dozens of crimes of robbery, theft in the consummated and attempted form, resisting and coercing an official, driving without a legal license, possession of a prohibited weapon, entering a place closed to the public, damage and theft.
During the reading of the judgment, the presiding judge said that the evidence produced at the trial hearing was all indirect, because none of the offenders were able to recognize the defendants, given the way they acted.
The most severe sentences, ranging from seven years and nine months to 16 years in prison, were handed down to five defendants who are in pre-trial detention and were the perpetrators of the robberies and thefts.
The panel of judges also handed down an effective sentence of six and a half years in prison to a businessman convicted of three counts of robbery, as a co-conspirator, and three counts of receiving stolen goods.
The owner of a goldsmith’s shop who bought the gold and jewelry items that the defendants stole was given a suspended prison sentence of three years and two months for six counts of theft.
Two defendants were also punished with fines of 3,100 euros and 1,750 euros each for the crime of theft.
The remaining six defendants were acquitted of all the crimes they were accused of.
In addition to the prison sentences, the main defendants were ordered to pay around 20,000 euros in compensation to various victims.
The court also declared that almost all the money seized in the case was forfeited to the state, and dismissed the request by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) for the forfeiture of 615,000 euros, corresponding to the minimum global value of the goods and valuables stolen by the defendants.
After reading the judgment, the judge also said that the defendants who are in pre-trial detention will retain their coercive status until the deadline for filing an appeal has passed, and also stated the special complexity of the case.
The beginning of the session was marked by several appeals lodged by the lawyer of one of the defendants, which ended with the presentation of an incident of suspicion directed at the presiding judge of the panel that tried the case.
Operation “Golden Web” was the result of an investigation by the Aveiro PSP criminal investigation squad, which culminated on July 10, 2022 with the arrest of seven people.
During the operation, dozens of raids were carried out on homes, businesses and vehicles in various municipalities in the districts of Aveiro, Coimbra and Porto. 28 weapons were seized (12 of which were firearms), hundreds of cartridges and ammunition, seven cars and around 300 grams of drugs (hashish and lamba).
Hundreds of stolen objects were also seized, including gold pieces, dozens of power tools and other construction tools, various agricultural machinery, construction materials, large and small household appliances, electronic devices and foodstuffs, among others, as well as around 200,000 euros in cash.
In less than half a year, the defendants carried out 36 robberies of homes, commercial establishments, company premises, construction sites and other spaces in various municipalities in the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra.
The targets were mostly elderly people, who, due to the physical frailty inherent in their age, as well as the fact that they lived alone, would certainly be unable to resist them from the outset.
