Court of Appeal sentences man to six and a half years for rape of minor in the Azores
The Lisbon Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal of a 25-year-old man and sentenced him to six years and six months in prison for the rape of a minor in Angra do Heroísmo.
Lisbon Court of Appeal reverses acquittal and criticises treatment of rape victim
The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) has sentenced a 25-year-old man to six years and six months in prison for the aggravated rape of a minor under 16 years old, an incident that occurred in Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores in 2024. The man had been acquitted at first instance. The decision, dated 17 June and first reported by Diário de Notícias, was made public this Friday, according to observador.pt.
The collective court at Angra do Heroísmo had decided in November 2025 on acquittal—with two judges voting in favour and one judge recording a dissenting opinion. The TRL found sufficient evidence for a conviction and overturned that decision.
Criticism of "pseudomorality" applied to victim
The Lisbon Court of Appeal identified several failings at the first-instance court, the most serious being the manner in which the victim's behaviour was evaluated. The Angra do Heroísmo court had considered it unproven that the minor did not want to have sexual relations, and had attributed credibility to witnesses who insinuated that the young woman had danced for the perpetrator and attempted to seduce him.
The TRL rejected this interpretation, describing it as a "pseudomorality that always seeks to place the victim in the position of 'provocateur' and 'instigator'". The court added that arguments such as the victim not having screamed, not having scratched herself, or not having called the police whilst being assaulted "are reminiscent of bygone times, are inappropriate, absurd, and not judicial—to say the very least".
This type of reasoning, the TRL emphasised across its 151-page decision, "regardless of how many warnings are issued and how many conventions are signed, continues to be an unfortunate constant in our courts".
The meaning of consent
Half a page of the decision was devoted to defining what constitutes a consensual relationship. "This standard that is invoked, whereby society judges a woman as 'loose' or 'guilty' when she 'insinuates' and the victim is the partner because they 'cannot control themselves, obviously', is an outdated standard of values (…) 'no' is 'no' for either partner", the ruling states.
Revictimisation during trial
The TRL also criticised the fact that the minor, who had previously given a recorded statement early in the investigation, was summoned again during the trial phase to answer the same questions—a situation that the Court of Appeal classified as revictimisation.
The court concluded that, contrary to what the first-instance court had maintained, there were no contradictory versions between the two sets of statements regarding the criminally relevant facts. Furthermore, it considered that in the recorded statements, the young woman "was subjected to excessive pressure, as should not have been the case, especially given that she was a minor and a possible victim of sexual crime".
Compensation of 12,000 euros
In addition to the prison sentence, the defendant was ordered to pay the victim compensation of 12,000 euros—an amount that the first-instance court had refused to award.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)