A 38-year-old man under house arrest with electronic monitoring has been convicted by a collective court of three counts of attempted aggravated homicide.
He has also been ordered to pay one of the victims 25,000 euros, “as compensation for damages suffered,” and nearly 28,000 euros to the Local Health Unit of the Leiria Region for medical care provided to the three men.
In the court ruling, which the Lusa agency accessed, it is stated that in the parking lot next to a bar in São Romão, the defendant and his wife “engaged in an argument over allegations of his infidelity with other women.”
Outside the bar, three women noticed the argument and “supported the defendant’s wife, telling her to leave her husband,” followed by an exchange of words with the defendant.
The judges noted that two of the women went inside the bar to seek help, leading to three men coming out intending to restrain the defendant.
At that moment, the defendant, a student, took a knife from his pants pocket, inflicting wounds on one of the men in the neck and abdomen. The victim is still on medical leave.
On the same occasion, after being pushed by another man who tried to separate him from the first victim, the defendant also struck him twice.
A third man “attempted to end the altercation” but was pushed against a wall and also suffered knife wounds.
“Other people emerged from inside the bar, and the defendant fled the scene, abandoning the knife in a field,” the ruling states.
The three victims were taken to Santo André Hospital in Leiria.
The collective court, describing the injuries suffered by the men, asserted that their deaths “were only averted because other people arrived at the scene, leading the defendant to flee, as well as due to the rapid and effective medical assistance provided.”
The judges stated that the defendant, by attacking the victims “in the neck and abdomen, where arteries and life-essential organs are located,” acted with the intent “to end their lives,” which he failed to accomplish “for reasons beyond his control.”
The court noted that the defendant, who showed “disregard and total disrespect for the lives” of the victims, acted “motivated by a dispute initially involving disagreements with his wife” and then with three others, “knowing it was petty and of no real importance.”
During the trial, the defendant, who had previously been a teacher, admitted to the actions, “claiming to have been attacked” by “about 20 people.” He justified carrying the knife for a job the following morning, stating he used it “only in self-defense.”
However, this version of the attack was not “supported by the testimony of [his] wife” nor by that of other witnesses, who, according to the court, “provided secure, coherent, detailed, and consistent accounts without the intention of unjustly incriminating the defendant, and were deemed credible.”
On October 7, 2024, the Public Security Police (PSP) announced that three men, aged between 24 and 33 at the time, had been attacked with a bladed weapon following a disorder near a bar in São Romão.
The suspect was eventually apprehended three days later by the Judiciary Police, with the collaboration of the PSP of Vila Franca de Xira.
