The Judicial Police (PJ) have arrested eight suspects for abducting two children in Gondomar from the home of their grandmother who had custody of them, and for assaulting her and then shaving her hair, police said this Thursday.
The eight detainees, seven men and one woman aged between 24 and 54, were family members of the victim, the SP said in a statement sent to the editorial office.
In addition to kidnapping two children and attacking the grandmother, the SP said that the suspects also injured a second person who lived with her, without specifying who.
According to the SP, the crime occurred on February 2 at 7:40 a.m. in Gondomar, when the suspects broke into the front door of the children’s grandmother’s house, where they were being held by the Juvenile and Family Court. are the daughters of one of the alleged attackers and took them to an unknown location.
“The perpetrators of the crimes, who are associated with the victim, physically attacked her, cut her hair, filmed a video and shared it on social networks, publicizing their behavior,” the SP explained.
These police considered that the basis for the practice of these crimes was a refusal to accept that this woman had a relationship with someone outside the Roma community, and a failure to comply with the decision of the Family and Minors Court to temporarily place the children in the custody of the victim, the youngest grandmother.
The children were rescued by the SP, which is establishing contacts with the Ministry of Justice to conduct a comprehensive investigation.
The detainees, detained in the metropolitan areas of Porto and Lisbon, will undergo a first judicial interrogation for crimes related to kidnapping, qualified physical harm, robbery with a firearm, coercion and possession of a prohibited weapon.
The court also said that some of the suspects have criminal records for crimes against life and property.
In this operation of the Northern Directorate of the SP, the National Counter-Terrorism Unit participated in the arrest of two accused who were in the Lisbon area.