An Aveiro court this Monday acquitted a 32-year-old man suspected of violently robbing the home of an elderly woman who lived alone in Vagos and strangling the victim with an electric cable.
During the announcement of the ruling, the presiding judge stated that it was not considered proven that the defendant was the author of the facts, despite the fact that he or one of his subordinates sold the earring that belonged to the 86-year-old man. woman, a crime occurred on the same day.
“There is a high probability that the defendant committed these acts, but the court could not overcome doubts, so it decided to acquit him,” the judge said.
The defendant, who was tried in his absence, was also acquitted of the crime of possessing a prohibited weapon because a knife and hunting cartridges found during a search of his home were in his father’s room.
However, he will ultimately be sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, suspended for the same period, for the crime of qualified theft related to the robbery of a pharmacy in Vagos, Aveiro district.
The indictment from the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PP) states that the accused robbed the house of an elderly woman in the early hours of May 30, 2017, entering the house through a hole he opened in the roof.
He would then go into the room where the victim was sleeping equipped with an electrical cable, sit on top of her to immobilize her, and wrap the electrical cable around her neck, squeezing it until he lost consciousness.
However, according to the prosecution, the defendant removed a pound sterling earring, both gold, which the victim was wearing in one of her ears, and went through the rest of the house looking for valuables, taking 10 euros from her wallet. and a television, which he took with him.
On the same day, the defendant went to a gold and silver shop, where he sold the earring for approximately 50 euros.
Less than a month after this case, the accused robbed a pharmacy in Vagos, taking with him a wheelbarrow, several rolls of electrical wire and cable, several rolls of plasticized copper tube, various tools, a laptop, three cell phones and 70 euros in coins that were in the box.
On the morning of the same day, the accused was intercepted by PNR officers on Vagosa Street while he was driving a wheelbarrow containing some stolen materials.