The Braga Court today sentenced the man accused of killing his ex-wife with 18 stabs to 20 years in prison on the night of September 18, 2019, due to the end of the relationship.
For the panel of judges, the prosecution of the Public Ministry (MP) was proven, condemning the defendant, 48 years old and who will remain in preventive prison, to the only sentence of 20 years in jail, for a crime of qualified homicide, and the payment of compensation to the family of Gabriela Monteiro, an employee of the Theatro Circo de Braga, in the global amount of 180,500 euros.
At the first trial session, which took place on June 15 this year, the defendant said in court that he did not remember the crime, stressing that he loved the victim, 46, and that he would be “the last person in the world whom he would want Hurt”.
João Paulo Dias Fernandes added that on the day of the facts, as “it was usual”, he went running with his ex-wife and that in the end they were talking “cordially”, saying to the panel of judges “not to remember anything else”.
The defendant also maintained that, after the “blackout”, he noticed that “something was not right”, when he saw “a mark” on the victim’s neck and realized that he had a “pocketknife” in his hands. He left the victim at the scene and went to a police station a few meters away for allegedly asking for help.
“I think I killed her,” he said at the time.
The defendant also referred to the court that, despite being equipped for the race, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, he also wore a bag with some personal effects and a “pocketknife”, which he had bought a few days before, claiming to be normal walking with pocket knives, due to his occupation as an electrician.
In view of the deposition, one of the judges asked the defendant to “not try to throw sand in the eyes of the court”, stressing that “the excuses are always the same”.
The magistrate said that the version presented by the defendant at the beginning of the trial could be “a good argument for a horror film”.
For the panel of judges, the defendant never expressed regret or demonstrated any type of censure judgment regarding the facts and the crime committed.
According to the prosecution of the MP, the victim was stabbed with at least 18 blows hard, three in the head area, five in the neck area, eight in the chest area and two in the left upper limb.
The facts took place on September 18, 2019, at 10:00 pm, when, according to the MP, Gabriela Monteiro appeared at Travessa da Praça da Justiça, in Braga, to meet the accused, acceding to the request that he had made.
The prosecution says the defendant started an argument with the victim, eventually hitting him with 18 blows, which turned out to be fatal.
The defendant and the victim were married in February 2017 and divorced on July 8, 2019.
“The accused was not satisfied with the end of this relationship and tried to resume it, which was not accepted by the victim,” adds the accusation.
In court, and according to the defendant’s version, the divorce only happened because it did not support the victim’s daughter, but ensured that the couple continued to maintain a relationship “practically the same”, but “on the sly”.
However, there are records of messages exchanged a few days before the crime in which the couple discussed, in an unfriendly tone, the division of property.
The defendant should be given everything belonging to him, two days after the crime.
This homicide was the basis for the creation of the civic movement Mulheres de Braga, meanwhile constituted as an association, which aims to support victims of domestic violence.
(updated news)
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