The verdict, dated April 2 and reviewed today, upheld the appeal by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and overturned the initial decision that had acquitted the defendant.
In September 2024, the defendant was acquitted in the Feira Court of a crime of attempted aggravated physical assault but was ordered to pay the victim 800 euros.
The court had initially determined that the actions of the defendant did not constitute “the commission of a crime of attempted aggravated physical assault, as the facts in question were deemed irrelevant under criminal law.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeal in Aveiro, which decided to convict the defendant. The court concluded that by violently pursuing the victim with a pitchfork and making death threats, the defendant became “deserving of a severe and particular judgment of censure due to the added gravity of such conduct.”
The events unfolded on May 7, 2022, at around 3:30 PM, near a fuel station in Santa Maria da Feira.
The court established that, due to a traffic dispute occurring moments earlier, the defendant pursued the victim. When the victim stopped their car at a fuel station, the defendant exited his vehicle and retrieved a pitchfork from the trunk.
He then approached the victim’s vehicle, pursued the victim, who had by then exited the car, in public, loudly and seriously declaring, “I will kill you,” although he was unable to reach him.
