The court overturns the verdict and demands a new decision in the case of Alcheiras infected with botulism

The Guimarães Court of Appeal overturned the conviction of chef Luis Portugal and ruled that a new ruling was necessary in a botulism case in which four people fell ill after eating allegedly contaminated alcheiras.

The second instance realized that the court had not ruled on all the facts contained in the indictment and returned the case to the judges of the Braganza court.

The businessman accused in the botulism case was sentenced in February 2023 to five years in prison, suspended, and ordered to pay about 30 thousand euros to three victims. The company he owned, Verdade Transmontana, also accused in the case, was ordered to pay a fine of 60 thousand euros, replaced by a good behavior bond of 65 thousand euros, which meant he would be released from the charge if he did not commit any further acts. crimes within five years.

The businessman and the commercial company were accused of four offenses of food spoilage, aggravated by the investigation, for “failure to comply with various hygienic and sanitary standards in the production, storage, transportation and distribution of alcheiras, which led to the spread of the bacterium.”

Following the conviction, the accused filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal of Guimarães, in a decision to which Luza had access, the judges declared “the appealed decision null and void and ordered a new decision.”

The Court of Guimarães describes that “the indictment charged the defendants with the commission of four crimes related to the spoilage of food or medicinal substances (…) with direct intent – ​​in action – and ultimate intention – in creating a danger – while the facts determined by the Court a quo [o de primeira instância] led the defendants’ conduct to probable intent – in the act – and to willful negligence – in creating the danger.”

The appeal held that “The court a quo omitted, in an unproven matter (…) the facts of the indictment relating to these direct and probable intentions, that is, it did not rule on the issue contained in the indictment”, and “The law assumes for the court to take a position on each of them.”

In a conversation with Luisa, Luis Portugal said that he was “very happy” with this decision, since he had been living “in anxiety for nine years”, despite the fact that he had “a clear conscience, as from the first hour.”

“I’m very happy. I believe in truth and justice, first of all, and it will happen. Now that it’s very painful and lasting, it’s true. (…) There’s a family, a team, a whole group of friends, things that happened and that it is necessary to explain. We could not find an explanation, and I was convicted without explanation,” says Luis Portugal.

The trial began in September 2022, seven years after the scandal that, in the summer of 2015, led to the hospitalization of four people who allegedly ate sausages at a fair and in a restaurant in Bragança owned by the society, and which affected the sale of the famous Tras-os sausages. Montes.

“When consumed, they caused botulism in four people, resulting in hospitalization and real life-threatening injuries that required 74 to 181 days to heal,” the indictment states.

The case came to light on September 26, 2015, when health authorities reported the first cases of botulism, linking them to Alcheira, sold under the brand name “Origem Transmontana”.