Trio convicted of armed jewellery robbery in Fátima sees appeal rejected by Supreme Court of Justice
The Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeal of the youngest member of the group, convicted to five and a half years in prison for the jewellery shop robbery in Fátima in September 2024.
Supreme Court of Justice refuses to reduce sentence for young man convicted of armed robbery in Fátima
The Supreme Court of Justice rejected the appeal of one of the three defendants convicted of an armed robbery at a jewellery shop in Fátima, which occurred on 18 September 2024. The young man, who was 19 years old at the time of the crime, sought to benefit from a special regime for young adults — applicable between the ages of 16 and 21 — to reduce his sentence of five years and six months of effective imprisonment to five months, with subsequent suspension of execution. The court said no.
According to Correio da Manhã, the trio prepared the robbery with meticulous detail: they hired a vehicle for their escape 11 days beforehand, acquired a revolver and a hammer, and gathered black clothing, caps, balaclavas and gloves. After prior surveillance of the targets, all three acted at 11:30 on a Wednesday, entering the jewellery shop and threatening, intimidating and assaulting those present. The owner was held at gunpoint; a customer was pushed and sustained injuries. They fled with €16,500 in cash and jewellery.
The escape ended 140 kilometres away, at the Ponte 25 de Abril in Lisbon, where the PSP and the Judicial Police were already waiting for them. Following a pursuit, the bridge was closed on police orders to stop the group.
Sentences imposed by Santarém Court
The three defendants, residents of the Tagus South Bank, were convicted to effective prison sentences by Santarém Court on 29 September 2025, roughly a year after the crime. The group's ringleader, Paulo Bunda, aged 26, received the heaviest sentence: 11 years in prison. Bunda had been released from Linhó prison in Sintra four months before the robbery, after serving four and a half years in prison for previous robberies. It was in Monte da Caparica, in Almada, that he met the Amorim brothers.
The older brother, aged 25, was convicted to seven years in prison. The decision weighed the fact that the crime was committed during the suspension period of a previous sentence of three years and six months. The younger brother, aged 19 at the time of the offence, received a sentence of five years and six months — the lowest of the trio, yet maintained in full by the Supreme Court.
The argument rejected by the Supreme Court of Justice
The young defendant argued that the application of the special regime for young adults would favour his social reintegration. The judges of the Supreme Court responded that "an appeal concerning the measure of the sentence is not intended to determine a new sentence, but to verify compliance with the legal criteria that govern its determination".
The Supreme Court of Justice also cited the ruling of Santarém Court, which justified the maintenance of the sentences on the basis of the degree of planning and violence of the crime: "It is necessary to consider the degree of unlawfulness, taking into account the manner in which the crimes were committed, with planning, use of a rented motor vehicle, with a journey between Almada and Fátima, with recourse to a firearm and hammer, with faces covered, reflecting a choice already demonstrating a certain level of sophistication intended to provoke fear and apprehension in the victims and, at the same time, to ensure the success of the robbery with substantial amounts in the shortest possible time."
First robbery excluded from charges
The Public Prosecutor withdrew from the charges a first robbery, allegedly committed on 28 August in Fátima, due to insufficient evidence. The case tried in Santarém was therefore limited to the September robbery.
Source: Correio da Manhã