Family of Odair Moniz seeks custodial sentence and expulsion of officer Bruno Pinto from PSP
Appeal against suspended sentence of police officer has been filed at the Lisbon Court of Appeal, demanding sentence between 8 and 16 years. Bruno Pinto has returned to duty in administrative functions.
Appeal at Lisbon Court of Appeal seeks homicide with direct intent and expulsion from PSP
The family of Odair Moniz, the Cape Verdean citizen shot dead by a PSP officer in Cova da Moura, Amadora, in 2024, has filed an appeal at the Lisbon Court of Appeal against the conviction of police officer Bruno Pinto to three and a half years imprisonment with suspended sentence. According to Correio da Manhã, the complainants in the criminal proceedings are seeking an aggravation of the sentence for the crime of simple homicide with direct intent — sentencing range between eight and sixteen years imprisonment — and also the expulsion of the defendant from the force.
The appeal was filed on Thursday. José Semedo Fernandes, lawyer for the family in the criminal action — in which the defendant has already been convicted to pay 90,000 euros in compensation — identified four central points of the challenge.
Pursuit without legal basis
The first point contests the decision itself to initiate vehicle pursuit. "We have demonstrated that he committed neither a crime nor a traffic violation to prompt the PSP patrol to pursue him," Semedo Fernandes told Correio da Manhã. The PSP has internal regulations obliging officers to resort to vehicle pursuit only in the face of ongoing crimes.
Irregular entry into Cova da Moura
The second point focuses on how the officers accessed the neighbourhood. "The officers entered Cova da Moura in violation, again, of internal regulations. They did not alert the radio control centre, nor did they signal the movement of the patrol car," the lawyer stated. Breach of internal communication rules is presented as an aggravating factor in the police conduct.
Absence of resistance at the moment of arrest
The third point concerns the physical state of Odair Moniz when the officers attempted to handcuff him. According to the family's defence, the victim was on medical leave after suffering a serious burn to his right arm, precisely the limb that was immobilised first. "What the images show is Odair's pain, as he had raw skin," Semedo Fernandes emphasised, rejecting any suggestion of active resistance on the victim's part.
Use of weapon contrary to internal regulations
The fourth and final point is the most serious: how Bruno Pinto used his service weapon. PSP internal regulations reserve the use of the pistol for situations of direct threat. "The first shot, the fatal one, was fired after a physical altercation between the defendant and the victim. It entered Odair's armpit and would strike the aorta. The second shot, which hit the victim in the genital area, was fired whilst he was still standing," the lawyer described.
Semedo Fernandes emphasised that the family's appeal "coincides with that of the Public Prosecutor's Office, which argues that the defendant acted with direct intent, meaning he wanted to kill the victim, and not in self-defence".
Bruno Pinto returns to duty
Officer Bruno Pinto resumed duties this month, assigned to administrative tasks at a police station on the South Bank. The lifting of the precautionary measures applied during the proceedings enabled his return, even though the first-instance court decision has not yet been finalised in law, given the appeal now pending at the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
Source: Correio da Manhã