Former PSP chief convicted to suspended sentence for domestic violence in Leiria
Leiria court applied four years and three months of imprisonment, suspended for five years, to former PSP official for crimes against his wife and in-laws.
Former PSP chief convicted to suspended sentence for domestic violence in Leiria
The Leiria court sentenced a former Police of Public Security official to four years and three months of imprisonment on Thursday, with execution of the sentence suspended for five years under a probation regime, for multiple offences including aggravated spousal abuse.
The judges' panel found proven that the defendant, 42 years old, committed a crime of aggravated domestic violence, two of aggravated intimidation, three of invasion of private space, and one of assault that caused injury to his partner and her parents. The former commander, who had never been previously convicted and who had been part of a specialist unit dealing with domestic violence victims, was also prohibited from contacting his wife—except in matters concerning the minor son they share—and from possessing or using firearms, for a period of five years.
The sentence also imposes on the defendant psychological and psychiatric support, and if necessary, pharmacological treatment. During the proceedings, the man partially acknowledged some of the conduct attributed to him. He must pay 9,500 euros in compensation to the injured parties, although he was acquitted of seven charges of aggravated threat.
The charge indictment, validated by an investigating judge, describes how the victim systematically suffered humiliation and psychological abuse, remaining permanently apprehensive about the possibility of the aggressor killing her or harming her parents. The Public Prosecution Service reported that, from the beginning of the relationship, the woman was subjected to a pattern of domination, insults and denigration, having even been victim to physical assault.
In a particularly shocking incident, when the injured party attempted to record a conversation on her mobile phone as a means of protecting herself, the defendant repeatedly pushed her, stamped on her feet and scratched her ear with such force that she required medical care. The aggressor cited the names of judges on call to convince his partner that her reports would have no effect, exploiting his status as a security force officer to manipulate her.
In delivering the ruling, the judge who presided over the panel emphasised the gravity of the behaviour, all the more reprehensible in an officer of a police force who was part of a team providing support to domestic violence victims. The offences persisted throughout much of the relationship, intensifying after the birth of the couple's child. The judge characterised the defendant's attitudes as "obsessive and impulsive", incompatible with the values of the twenty-first century.
"You had a duty to set an example, to be a pillar in the community," she observed, adding that the opinion of a mental health specialist was decisive in opting against the imposition of an effective prison sentence. The court expressed the expectation that the convicted man would be able to "overcome this dark phase of his life" and return to contributing positively to society, to himself and to his child.
In parallel, the former police officer was subject to a disciplinary process that culminated in his dismissal from office, by decision of the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, published in the Diário da República on 2 June.
Source: Correio da Manhã
Source: Correio da Manhã