On Tuesday, an Aveiro court began sentencing three men, aged between 39 and 54, allegedly involved in a plan to attack and extort money from several people with financial resources.
Of the three defendants, one missed the trial, while the other two chose to remain silent.
The three men are charged with attempted aggravated extortion, infliction of bodily harm and aggravated coercion. One of them is also responsible for a misdemeanor drug trafficking crime.
The panel of judges began by hearing testimony from one of the victims, a lawyer who said the defendants approached him with a request to provide services in a divorce case.
The offended party described the atmosphere of “terror” he experienced at the hands of the accused, being the target of attacks and extortion attempts through written messages sent to him and his wife demanding the delivery of unspecified sums of money.
Before the panel of judges, the victim stated that she had moved to live with her husband’s relatives and a friend and could not be with her children because she was “afraid that they would be exposed.”
“We had a peaceful, happy life. We had a terrible period in our lives. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone,” he said, adding that he had to hire a security guard to accompany him, as well as a CCTV system in the house and armored doors in bedrooms.
The indictment from the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PO) describes three extortion attempts with the same number of victims, which occurred between February and April 2022 in several municipalities of the districts of Aveiro and Coimbra.
The accused were arrested by the PNP in June 2022, the culmination of an investigation that lasted over four months.
At the time, GNR said the suspects lured victims to a meeting to perform a service or purchase a product, and then attacked the victims at the scene by threatening and coercing them.
According to GNR Aveiro, the actions of the suspects towards the victims in some cases resulted in hospitalization and caused “fear, unrest and great panic.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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