Couple accuse each other in trial for killing of elderly man in Aljustrel
A couple both aged 40 began trial at Beja Court for robbery, kidnapping and homicide of an 80-year-old man. Each defendant attributes responsibility for the assaults to the other.
Contradictory accounts in trial for homicide of elderly man from Jungeiros
A man and a woman, both aged 40, presented opposing versions at Beja Court about who assaulted and killed an 80-year-old man in Aljustrel in January. According to CNN Portugal, at the first hearing of the trial, the two defendants both agreed to give statements and each attributed responsibility for the assaults to the other.
The man claimed to be "sorry for not calling the GNR and the fire brigade" and accused his ex-partner of striking the elderly man "two or three times" on the head with an iron bar, before both threw him into a well. The defendant woman, for her part, maintained that it was her ex-husband who "struck the victim on the head with a pistol" — both at the elderly man's home in the village of Jungeiros and by the well where the man ultimately came to be abandoned.
The defendant's account
In his statement, the defendant recounted that on that day he met his ex-wife in Montes Velhos, despite being subject to a contact prohibition under domestic violence proceedings. According to him, at her request he accompanied her, with the purpose of taking the elderly man to hospital in the victim's own car, which was said to have a dent on the head.
On the way to Beja hospital, they stopped by a well situated near National Road 2 (EN2), in the area of Ervidel, in the same municipality. The defendant said they stopped "to urinate" and because the victim complained that he "was feeling unwell". It was then that, according to the man, his ex-partner struck the elderly man with an iron bar.
The defendant admitted to helping open the well cover and to pushing the victim inside it, but said he was "in a panic" because he had known the elderly man since childhood. He alleged that the woman "said she wanted to steal the victim's money". After what happened, they travelled to Ferreira do Alentejo, where he remained alone consuming drugs and alcohol to "forget what had happened".
The defendant woman's account
The woman presented a different account. She said that on that day she was at the victim's house in Jungeiros when the defendant jumped over the courtyard wall and entered an annex, assaulting the elderly man with a pistol. "I tried to press the panic button, but it had no battery," she told the panel of judges.
According to the defendant woman, her ex-husband ordered both of them to get into the victim's car and they drove to Montes Velhos, where they consumed drugs. Already by the well near Ervidel, when the elderly man got out of the vehicle to urinate — and "was bleeding heavily" — the woman said she saw her ex-partner deliver "more blows to the head", open the well cover and throw the eighty-year-old inside.
She further alleged that she was locked in the car boot by the defendant, who abandoned the vehicle in Ferreira do Alentejo. The next morning, she broke the car window to get out and returned to Jungeiros, having later contacted the GNR.
Charges and next steps
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, on 16 January, the two defendants went to the elderly man's home in Jungeiros, where the man struck him on the head with a bladed object. Both, regular drug users, took money and the victim's car keys, placing him in the car boot. They then travelled to various locations in the area to buy and consume crack.
In the early hours of the following morning, they went to the well near Ervidel, broke the lock on the metal cover, threw the victim inside, replaced the cover and abandoned the location.
The couple, who had lived in a de facto relationship and are in pre-trial detention, are each accused of one count of qualified homicide, one count of robbery and one count of aggravated kidnapping. The defendant man additionally faces an accusation of attempted robbery that occurred the same night.
At Tuesday's hearing, several witnesses were also heard. For Wednesday, the hearing of the last witness and final submissions are scheduled. The defendant woman's lawyer, Rita Moleiro, reserved her statement for after the court's decision. The defendant man's counsel, Margarida Godinho Costa, acknowledged that "it will not be easy to establish guilt and individualise the action of each" defendant, appealing that "justice be impartial, measured and act with rigour in investigating individual responsibilities".
Source: CNN Portugal