The court acquitted the leaders of the Corpo Nacional de Escutas for the death of a 10-year-old Girl Scout in Aveiro.

The Porto Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal of two Corpo Nacional de Escutas (CNE) leaders in the 2018 fatal trampling of a 10-year-old Girl Scout in São Jacinto, Aveiro.

In October 2022, the Estarreja court acquitted the accused of committing the crime through negligence.

Dissatisfied with the decision, the parents of the girl who died as a result of the collision appealed to Porto Relação, which upheld the decision of the lower court.

The judges concluded that, on the basis of the established facts, “it does not follow that the presence of the defendants at the time of crossing the border was in itself an obstacle to obtaining a result, which, unfortunately, could be verified.”

The case took place on July 30, 2018 in San Jacinto, municipality of Aveiro, where the scout summer camp was located.

A girl, an explorer from the 774 de Queijas Scout Group, was walking along the national road 327 (EN327), parallel to the Aveiro estuary, with three other scouts when she was picked up by a car thrown into the estuary. .

The minor was stabilized on the spot by Novos de Aveiro firefighters and transported by helicopter to a Coimbra hospital, where she died the next day.

Although the defendants, who were responsible for guarding and monitoring the group, traveled in a vehicle at a distance without losing visual contact with minors, the court did not find it proven that the trampling, which caused the death of the victim, was the result of “hindsight, lack of care and diligence” from their side.

The Corpo Nacional de Escutas has declared seven days of official national mourning in connection with the death of the child.