The Madeira District Court sentenced this Friday, November 21st, to 20 years in prison a man accused of having murdered his ex-wife in October last year, in the municipality of Machico.
When reading the ruling, which took place at the Funchal Central Criminal Court, the president of the panel of judges, Teresa de Sousa, highlighted that “it is unequivocal” that the defendant committed “a crime of voluntary homicide” while his ex-wife was sleeping and could not offer resistance.
The man, who was in pre-trial detention, was convicted of the crime of qualified homicide for which he was accused by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The judge highlighted that the number of women killed continues to grow from year to year and classified the defendant’s conduct as “treacherous” and “cold”.
“It’s very sad and reprehensible”, he pointed out, addressing the man, highlighting that he killed his wife and mother of two of his children “with less care than killing an animal”.
The case began to be tried at the Funchal Central Criminal Court of the Madeira District Court on September 16, with the defendant choosing to remain silent.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) indictment, the murder occurred on the morning of October 30, 2024, while the victim was sleeping.
The defendant, armed with an iron pipe, struck “at least” three blows to the side of the head, left the area and the victim remained in bed “as if he were still sleeping”.
The 53-year-old man hid the victim’s wallet and the iron pipe in a wooded area, and the woman was found dead in the bedroom by one of her children.
The MP also says that the defendant “acted with total insensitivity and indifference for the victim’s life”, at a time when the woman “could not offer any resistance”.
The defendant is from Argentina, but has Venezuelan nationality, and has two children with the victim.
In the first session of the trial, the first witnesses were heard, including the daughter of the victim and the defendant, the son’s girlfriend, among other family members.
Situations of jealousy and arguments between the couple were reported, but witnesses said that nothing could have predicted the crime and rejected situations of physical violence before the homicide.
According to witnesses, the man was not violent, nor did he consume excessive alcoholic beverages.
The victim’s daughter, who said she once went to visit her father in prison, told the court that she asked him why he had killed her mother, and the man responded several times that he “didn’t know” why he had committed the crime.
The reading of the ruling was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but was postponed due to a non-substantial change in the facts.
The defense lawyer, Américo Dias, explained to journalists at the time that the changes had to do with statements made by the daughter, who indicated during the trial “that her father, before committing the crime, looked for her two or three times in her room and asked her if she […] it took a long time” to go to school, adding that there are now “some signs of premeditation”.
The lawyer also said that the sentence would probably be aggravated by these facts added to the Public Prosecutor’s accusation.