The couple accused of triple homicide in Donai, in the municipality of Bragança, in July 2022 was sentenced this Tuesday, December 9, to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay compensation of 225 thousand euros to the victims’ family.
The ruling was read at the Bragança Court, with the group of judges having proven almost all the facts for which the woman and man were accused.
The case dates back to 2022, when on July 9, according to the Public Ministry (MP), the defendant entered the house of a family in Donai and killed the 66-year-old owner, with 10 blows to the face, neck and chest, and injured the woman’s partner. With the intention of erasing evidence and stealing drugs, the defendant couple returned to the house on July 19 and killed the man, with 24 blows, and his son, with 17 blows, who was allegedly involved in drug trafficking and with whom the defendant also had an extramarital love affair.
Before fleeing, says the MP, they set fire to the house.
The panel of judges sentenced the defendant to 14 years for the crime of unqualified murder of the owner of the house, seven years for the crime of qualified physical integrity, 20 years for the crime of qualified murder, co-authored, by the victim’s 69-year-old partner, and another 20 years for the death of his son.
The defendant was also convicted of desecrating two corpses within 16 months and for the crime of arson within three and a half years.
Given the penalty limit in Portugal and the crimes being related to each other, the conviction resulted in a single sentence of 25 years in prison.
The defendant was convicted of the same crimes, with the same penalties, with the exception of the murder of the homeowner, because the court found that she was not involved in this death, which occurred on July 9th. The conviction also resulted in a single sentence of 25 years in prison.
The two defendants, who lived in a de facto union, are also obliged to pay compensation to the victims’ family of 225 thousand euros for the damage caused.
To journalists, the victims’ lawyer, Carlos Moura Alves, highlighted that he was not satisfied because “the death of three people was at stake, which is always regrettable”.
Still, he said they were “understanding” with the ruling and the compensation applied.
There is also another claim for compensation that is being filed in a separate process related to the damage caused by the fire, set by the two defendants, and which will have caused losses of no less than “5,100 euros”, according to the court.
At the end of the session, The defendant’s lawyer stated that she intends to appeal the ruling.
The two defendants began their trial on September 8th and neither made statements to the court.
The couple is serving a prison sentence for crimes of stealing from gas stations.