Last February, over the course of a week, Carlos Carvalho, now 55, grabbed and dragged two women walking along the Ecovia do Lima street in Ponte da Barca to rape them. He attacked another to steal her mobile phone. One of the victims was injured while resisting the attack and suffers from post-traumatic stress to this day.
A dangerous criminal who was on parole when he attacked women was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison by the Viana do Castelo court yesterday. It is the 45th time he has been convicted by the court and has already spent more than 35 years in prison.
The panel of judges’ decision was influenced by his 44 previous convictions, most of them for property crimes and crimes against physical integrity. Despite this, the court concluded that there was no evidence that he had been convicted as a repeat offender.
“Carlos da Mana,” as he is known in Ponte da Barca, was charged with two counts of attempted rape and three counts of aggravated robbery. The indictment states that the accused used a knife to coerce the three victims, but the use of a weapon was not proven in court.
Carlos Carvalho, who has been in pre-trial detention since he was arrested by the SP Braga in February last year, attended the announcement of the verdict via videoconference at Custoias Prison. In addition to the prison term, he was ordered to pay 15,000 euros in compensation to the two rape victims.
Author: Fatima Vilasa
Source: CM Jornal
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