PSP officer Bruno Pinto sentenced to suspended prison term for killing of Odair Moniz in Amadora
The Sintra court has condemned PSP officer Bruno Pinto to three years and six months in prison with the sentence suspended for the killing of Odair Moniz. The victim's family will receive 90,000 euros in compensation.
Court condemns PSP officer for Odair Moniz's death with suspended prison sentence
The Sintra court has condemned PSP officer Bruno Pinto to three years and six months in prison with the sentence suspended for the commission of a homicide offence with eventual intent exceeding legitimate self-defence, according to observador.pt. The panel of judges at Sintra's Central Criminal Court considered the use of a firearm "disproportionate", but classified the act as a "genuine instinctive act of defence". The family of Odair Moniz will receive compensation totalling 90,000 euros.
During the reading of the sentence, Bruno Pinto remained motionless in the dock, with his eyes fixed on the ground, dressed in a blue uniform with insignia on his shoulders. When judge Ana Sequeira ordered him to stand to hear the decision, he showed no expression. The court ruling did not apply a ban on him exercising his duties.
Outside the courtroom, relatives and acquaintances of Odair Moniz — a Cape Verdean cook who lived in the Zambujal neighbourhood with his wife and two children — wept loudly. They were escorted by GNR military personnel through the side entrance of Sintra Court, whilst the word "murderers" echoed in the stairwell. The compensation fixed by the court is distributed as 30,000 euros for loss of the right to life and 20,000 euros each for the widow and each of the two children, plus a monthly maintenance allowance of 220 euros for the minor daughter.
The dagger and the contradictions
One of the central issues of the trial was the dagger that appeared in a "subsequent moment but not established", according to the ruling. Bruno Pinto alleged that the victim tried to attack him with the weapon, describing in the PSP's incident report a blow aimed at his head. The court found it not proven that Odair wielded any knife, basing this on analysis of CCTV footage and the absence of the victim's DNA on the white weapon. The defendant's narrative about the belated appearance of the dagger was classified by the judges as "devoid of logic".
The chase to Cova da Moura
The facts date back to the early morning of 21 October 2024, shortly after 05:20. Odair Moniz was driving on Avenida da República in Amadora when he came face to face with a PSP patrol car driven by Bruno Pinto, accompanied by his colleague Rui Machado. Odair had a blood alcohol level of 1.98 g/l, traces of light drugs and did not have a valid driving licence in Portugal — facts that the officers would only come to know later, during the autopsy, as established during the court hearing.
After signalling a left-turn manoeuvre before spotting the patrol, Odair "swerved" the car to the right and accelerated. A police chase then began which ended in Cova da Moura, after Odair entered the neighbourhood via Rua 8 de Dezembro and collided with three cars, including the rear of the police vehicle which eventually immobilised his.
The shots
Already out of their cars, Rui Machado repeated the order for Odair to put his hands on his head and lie on the ground, without success. Machado even removed his weapon from its holster and loaded a round, but put it away again when his colleague got out of the vehicle, not using it again that morning. Bruno Pinto took a different course of action.
The court established as fact that Odair assaulted the officer: in addition to resisting arrest, and after already being hit on the legs with Rui Machado's baton, he kicked Bruno Pinto on the back. At a moment when both were apart, the officer loaded his weapon and fired into the air. When faced with Odair's continued advance, he made a second shot also into the air.
The third shot would be fatal. In the midst of further physical confrontation, with Odair raising his right hand "directing it towards the defendant's head" — a fact established as proven — Bruno Pinto fired with the weapon pressed against his own waist, at a distance of between 20 and 50 centimetres, hitting the cook in the chest. In an "immediate moment", after Odair remained on his feet, the officer increased the distance to between 75 centimetres and one metre and fired again, hitting him in the genital area and right leg. Odair fell to the ground.
The verdict
The panel of judges recognised that Bruno Pinto, who was 27 years old at the time and a trained officer, should have managed the confrontation without firing at vital organs at such close range. The use of his service Glock was classified as "disproportionate". Nevertheless, the court weighed Odair's behaviour as a mitigating factor and framed the police officer's reaction as an instinctive act in the context of the confrontation.
The case in 2024 had plunged several neighbourhoods in Greater Lisbon into unrest. The reading of the ruling took place under close GNR surveillance, without repeating the episodes of violence that marked the days following the death of the Cape Verdean citizen. The suspended sentence and the non-application of a ban on exercising his duties were received with indignation by family members and those close to the victim present in the courtroom.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)