Those accused of abusing a user at a house in Alandroal will be sentenced on June 17.

The court of Évora has set for this Friday, June 17, the announcement of the verdict in the case of 10 accused of ill-treating a user of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia (SCM) in Alandroal, who eventually died.

At the end of today’s final arguments, the chairwoman of the panel hearing the case, Celeste Mendonça, announced that the decision would be read at 1:45 p.m. on June 17.

The defendants are eight current and former employees of Alandroal SCM, the institution itself and its respective supplier, and each is charged by the Office of the Public Prosecutor (MP) with the crime of aggravated ill-treatment.

During closing arguments, the deputy’s prosecutor asked for a guilty verdict against the defendants, finding that there was a “failure to comply with various duties and procedures established by the institution” in monitoring the user.

However, the judge emphasized that there was no intent on the part of the defendants, but negligence in committing the crime of cruelty.

Lawyers asked for their clients to be acquitted, and some said the trial failed to prove that the defendants’ actions contributed to the elderly woman’s death.

The lawyers also criticized the prosecution and the work of the deputy at the investigation stage.

According to the prosecution, the case began in December 2014 when “multiple bedsores” were found on the body of the 83-year-old user after he was transferred from an SCM home in Alandroal to another in Vendas Novas.

The ulcer in the area of ​​her right thigh did not heal, and almost two months after the move, the user was admitted to the Évora Hospital with vomiting, fever and prostration, as a result of which she died at 01:00 the next day due to a generalized infection.