PJ Arrests Model Aircraft Club Leader for Child Sexual Abuse

The head of an aircraft modeling club in Vila Nova de Gaia is suspected of sexually abusing three boys who accompanied him to sporting events, a Judicial Police (PJ) source told Lusa this Wednesday.

A source at the PJ Center directorate explained that the 52-year-old man, who was arrested on Tuesday, “has been in an aircraft modeling club for more than 20 years, is now a leader, and it is in this context that he meets the victims.”

“Because he had the full confidence of his parents, minors traveled with him to national competitions in this sport,” he said, adding that the SP recognizes “the existence of more victims.”

The facts giving rise to the investigation took place in October 2022 in Mira, Coimbra district, where “the detainee and one of the victims, aged 15, went to a modality event”.

According to the same source, “this time the minor was bullied, he felt very uncomfortable in the situation and told his parents about it, who filed a complaint.”

During the course of the investigation, the SP had already identified “two more victims”, and in the case of one of them, “the ill-treatment began when he was 10 years old and continued until he was 15 years old”.

“Another 15-year-old child was also abused several times,” a source told PJ, adding that the two victims did not file complaints and only now reported being abused.

In addition to the crime of child sexual abuse, the man is suspected of the crime of dependent child sexual abuse because the boys “were under his care during periods when they traveled to events, especially on weekends,” he explained.

Detained single, works at a factory, has no criminal record.

After a court interrogation, which he was taken to this Wednesday, he was forced to stay at home with an electronic bracelet and was forbidden to contact the victims and use the Internet.