Suspects in attempt to kidnap woman in Vila Real acquitted due to lack of evidence

Five defendants accused of attempting to kidnap a woman in January 2022 in Vila Real were acquitted by a court on Monday for lack of evidence.

The Vila Real court ruled to acquit the suspects, three men and two women, for lack of evidence.

After reading the verdict, one of the defendants’ lawyers, Albano Cunha, was satisfied with the acquittal, which he classified as “expected” given the evidence presented at the trial.

“The evidence was very inconsistent and the court did its job,” he told reporters.

The defendants, three men and two women aged between 39 and 49, were charged by the Ministry of Public Information (MP) with co-authorship of materials and attempted kidnapping.

They began their trial on May 9, and during the trial they decided not to testify.

The case dates back to January 2022 and, according to the prosecution, a couple of businessmen from Vila Real hired three people to kidnap a woman with whom the businessman had an extramarital affair and to whom he transferred “between 30 and 50 thousand euros.” “.

According to the deputy’s thesis, in order to try to recover the amount, the business couple decided to hire the remaining three defendants, drawing up a plan “for the purpose of kidnapping and forcing the offended party to pay them the specified amount of money, using threat and violence if necessary.”

Three defendants, hired by the couple, according to prosecutors, drove a car and guarded the woman, but she, noticing the presence of the car, ended up hiding in a pastry shop in the city of Vila Real, where she escaped by getting into the car of a friend who was supposed to pick her up and remained there until the arrival of the GP.