Two young men sentenced to prison for robberies and assaults in Leiria
The Leiria Court sentenced two young men to sentences of five and a half years and six years in prison for crimes of robbery and assault.
Leiria Court imposes custodial sentences on two young men for series of robberies
The Leiria Court sentenced two young men to prison sentences for crimes of robbery and aggravated assault, according to a ruling to which the Lusa news agency gained access on Wednesday, the Correio da Manhã reports.
One of the defendants, aged 18 and unemployed, was sentenced to a single term of six years in prison for three robberies — simple and aggravated, in joint commission — and two counts of aggravated assault, committed alone and in joint commission. The court also imposed an accessory sentence of expulsion from the country for five years.
The second defendant, a 19-year-old student, was found guilty of three robberies, simple and aggravated, and one count of aggravated assault, all in joint commission, and was sentenced to a single term of five years and six months in prison.
Both remain under home detention with electronic monitoring whilst awaiting the final judgment. The judges found that this constitutes the "only measure of restraint necessary and sufficient to satisfy the high precautionary requirements" associated with the danger of continuation of criminal activity and absconding, "in light of imminent imprisonment".
Facts established as proven
The bench of judges established as proven that in March 2025, the two defendants and an unidentified third suspect assaulted a minor pupil outside Afonso Lopes Vieira Secondary School in the city of Leiria.
In the early hours of 16 May of the same year, at Leiria Fair, one of the defendants entered a caravan that served as a room for a man and, wielding a knife, thrust it towards the victim's abdomen. The man managed to deflect the blow, but the blade struck his hand.
The most serious incident occurred on 13 June 2025, at 18:00, also in Leiria. Three men travelling in a vehicle were approached by approximately ten individuals, including the two defendants, who surrounded the car to prevent the occupants from leaving. The robbers demanded valuables, after which one of the convicted men assaulted two of the occupants and held a knife "to the neck and face" of one of them. The victims were forced to leave the vehicle, searched and stripped of their belongings. The two defendants and two other individuals left the scene in the same car.
Special regime for young offenders rejected
Both defendants, residents of Leiria, were arrested in November 2025 by the Public Security Police. The court rejected the application of the special criminal regime for young offenders — provided for defendants aged between 16 and 21 — citing the overall seriousness of the facts, the number of victims and "the poor social and professional/educational integration" of the two young men.
"It is no longer viable to make a favourable prognosis for these young defendants," the bench maintained, justifying the sentences with "the degree of culpability of each one," high in both cases, and with the requirements of general and special deterrence.
The ruling also highlighted the "great audacity and sense of impunity of the defendants," who acted "jointly with more people, in broad daylight, in a public place, thereby causing marked alarm and a sense of insecurity and impunity in the community".
Source: Correio da Manhã