The Portuguese Association of Women Lawyers (APMJ) addressed a letter on Monday to the national director of the Judiciary Police (PJ), Luís Neves, expressing “repudiation and concern” over a social media post regarding a sexual abuse case.
The issue stems from a Facebook post where the PJ announced last Thursday the arrest of “a man for the crime of sexual abuse of a 17-year-old girl,” explaining that “the crime took place in Lisbon following a night out, after which the victim ended up unconscious due to excessive alcohol consumption.”
In the post, the authority stated that “the inability to react” due to alcohol consumption “resulted in another victim,” providing several recommendations such as “moderating alcohol intake,” “not accepting and watching drinks,” and “refusing rides from strangers.”
In the letter sent to the PJ’s national director and distributed to the press, the APMJ expressed “repudiation and concern about the way” the information note was drafted, arguing that “its reading suggests that the aggressor’s conduct was triggered by the victim’s behavior, as if she were responsible for the assault she suffered and as if the crime occurred solely due to her lack of resistance.”
The association warns that “the verification of such a circumstance does not prevent, from a legal standpoint, the occurrence of a sexual crime” and hence, the PJ “should not indicate it in the way it does.”
“The Portuguese Association of Women Lawyers further emphasizes that in this type of especially violent crime, such a causal relationship between the victim’s behavior and the sexual assault not only cannot and should not be established because its logical consequence justifies and excuses the criminal conduct, but also simultaneously contributes to reinforcing feelings of insecurity, fear, and shame in the victim, reinforcing and amplifying all stereotypes and prejudices related to sexual crimes,” reads the letter.
The APMJ also regrets that the post is “completely missing any information and support means for victims of sexual assaults or available public resources and specialized services in such cases, which could enable any potential future victims to deal with situations similar to those described.”
Democratic Movement of Women says the post “promotes unacceptable responsibility of women”
Alongside the APMJ’s alert, a complaint was also filed on Monday with the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality by the Democratic Women’s Movement.
For the movement, cited by Jornal de Notícias, “the text and chosen image shift the focus from the crime to an image of a woman, insinuating a causal link between being a woman, going out at night, consuming alcohol, and ‘bad outcomes.'”
“This narrative neither informs nor prevents: it stigmatizes unacceptably. By stigmatizing, it promotes the unacceptable responsibility of women and excuses the perpetrators for criminal practices,” it denounces.
17-year-old teenager was sexually abused by nightclub security
In a statement sent last Wednesday, October 29, to the press, the PJ indicated that it arrested “a 36-year-old man for the crime of sexual abuse of a person incapable of resistance, in an aggravated form, the victim being a 17-year-old girl in Lisbon.”
The crime occurred in August 2025 “in a hotel establishment” and the suspect “is security at a nightlife establishment the victim frequented with a group of friends.”
That night, the young girl became intoxicated, and the suspect, who already has a criminal record for crimes of the same nature, offered his vehicle so she could “recover from the state of incapacity she was in.” However, he took advantage of the minor being unconscious and “drove her to a hotel where he perpetrated the sexual abuse.”
The crime was reported to the Public Security Police (PSP), which forwarded the case to the PJ.
Nightclub security offered his car to a 17-year-old girl for her to rest. He ended up taking her, unconscious, to a hotel where he abused her.
Andrea Pinto | 10:42 – 30/10/2025
