Sao Tome men who raped a girl in Viseu sentenced to prison and deportation from Portugal

The Viseu court this Thursday sentenced four men suspected of sexually abusing an 18-year-old woman who was drunk and unable to resist to effective prison sentences and expulsions from Portugal.

The defendants, who at the time were between 17 and 21 years old and attending a vocational school in Viseu, were accused of co-authoring four aggravated sexual offenses against a person incapable of resistance in the early hours. dated February 12, 2022.

The defendant, then aged 21, was legally sentenced to six and a half years in prison. The rest were subject to a special juvenile punishment regime, so by law they were sentenced to five years and three months in prison.

The additional punishment of expulsion from the territory of the country was also applied to these four individuals, since they are all natives of Sao Tome and Principe and were in Viseu for their studies.

“We don’t want people here who, having fallen under the protection of cooperation between countries, then resort to committing this type of highly reprehensible crime,” the judge said after reading the verdict.

The court considered it proven that, having visited the bar and delivered the girl to the apartment, four men, taking advantage of her drunkenness and short-sightedness, had sexual intercourse with her, even without her permission, and that they watched what was happening. actions taken by each of them.

In accordance with the verdict, it was proved that the girl, who on that night celebrated her 18th birthday, which she had just turned a few days ago, “had no discerning ability for self-determination of sexuality” and that the four men were aware of this and “even while without shying away from sexual gratification.”

According to the court, the sexual assault was “very serious” and left the girl with physical and psychological consequences (anxiety attacks, nightmares, sadness and a sense of humiliation). There were also “consequences for the victim’s family, social and school environment” when the defendants had to pay her 15,000 euros in compensation.

The judge explained that in the case of sexual crimes, “the testimonies of the offended are of particular value”, not least because experience suggests that they “tend not to verbalize what happened”, and if they do, then “in a sensual expression “. way”.

The girl’s speech was deemed “coherent, spontaneous and sincere”, and she condemned what happened the morning after the events, when she regained consciousness.

On the other hand, the testimony of the victim “found confirmation in other means of proof, primarily in the testimony of the defendants,” he added.

The trial began on February 9 and was held behind closed doors, only the announcement of the verdict, which took place today, became public.

The judge stressed that this type of crime causes “great public concern and disgust” and requires exemplary punishment.

Having finished reading the verdict, seeing the postures of the defendants, he asked them: “Have you lowered your heads?”

Immediately after that, he informed them of the seriousness of the crimes committed, which entailed heavy punishments even for the three defendants who had taken advantage of the juvenile regime.

The judge hoped that “with prison, they would find out and commit no more crimes of this kind or others.”