Court of Appeal commutes sentence for couple who tried to rob jewelry store in Aveiro

The Court of Appeal of Porto (TRP) commuted to six months the prison sentence handed down to two foreign nationals who, more than a year ago, tried to rob a jewelry store in Aveiro by kidnapping a worker.

The TRP decision of June 28, which Lusa had access to this Monday, partially granted the defendants’ appeal, sentencing each to three and a half years in prison with aggravated circumstances. theft.

The two defendants, citizens of Ukraine, 42 and 50 years old, were sentenced on February 22 by the court of Aveiro to four years in prison each.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the defendants turned to the TRP, seeking to mitigate the alleged criminal liability, change the regime for serving sentences and acquit the civil plaintiff or, in extreme cases, a significant mitigation.

On appeal, the defendants defended the punishment solely for the crime of kidnapping, although it was ultimately reduced, especially on the strength of their conduct, and attempted robbery due to care was justified.

The judges rejected most of the demands, but reduced the sentence to three and a half years in prison due to legal issues related to how the defendants entered the jewelry store.

“The appellants did not enter by breaking the door; they didn’t even get in by escaping or using the entrance of an employee or other customers, objectively they entered in the same way and with the same means as an ordinary customer, ”the message says. judgment.

In addition to the prison sentence, the two robbers will also have to pay three thousand euros in solidarity to the jeweler’s employee, which is two thousand euros less than the amount established in the first instance.

The robbery of the Crisálida jewelry store, located on Lourenço Peixinho Avenue, took place on the afternoon of April 16, 2022, when only one employee was in the establishment.

On charges of the Prosecutor’s Office (MP), the defendants entered the store and began to try on watches. However, one of them allegedly grabbed the employee from behind and wrapped his arm around her neck, immobilizing her, after which the defendants dragged her to the most private part of the store, where they tied her hands and feet and covered her mouth with self-adhesive tape.

After immobilizing the victim and silencing him, the defendants put on gloves, closed the entrance to the establishment and emptied the contents of six suitcases containing various items of sterling silver worth more than 20,000 euros into the bag and backpacks they were carrying.

The deputy also mentions that the defendants unsuccessfully tried to open the establishment’s safe, where other more valuable items were found.

The alarm was raised by the manager, who arrived at the establishment at about 3:40 pm and, considering it strange that the door was still closed, and seeing the clock lying on the counter, remotely accessed the institution’s video surveillance images. chains, thus taking notice of the robbery and calling the PSP, who appeared on the spot a few minutes later.??????

Also, according to investigators, one of the defendants made three phone calls, calling the caller “the boss.” After the last of these phone calls, the robbers released the employee and left the establishment a few minutes later, being immediately detained by PSP agents who set up a security perimeter.