Crime in Pico: German sentenced to the maximum sentence for two murders and desecration of a corpse

Woman was also convicted of co-authorship in the desecration of a corpse

The man accused of the qualified murder of two people on the island of Pico, in the Azores, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The court found the crimes proven and followed the charges of qualified homicide and desecration of a corpse.

The suspect’s wife was also convicted, but only for desecrating a corpse, having been sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison.

The court intended to apply an additional penalty to the suspect and also to his wife, accused of desecrating corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon, of “expulsion from the country”, after serving a prison sentence, a decision that was contested by the suspects’ lawyer .

The reading of the ruling, which was scheduled for last week, had been postponed at the beginning of the week.

The defendant in the case, a German national, was accused of, in September 2022, having killed two men and burning their bodies, when they were visiting some land that they intended to buy, around his house, in Campo Raso, in an area where there are few dwellings.

The detainee, who initially pleaded guilty, later changed his statement, arguing that he had been pressured by the police authorities, now declaring himself innocent of the crimes of qualified homicide, desecration of corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon.

At the time the suspects were arrested, the Judiciary Police announced that “evidence had been collected” that the two missing men had been victims of “murder crimes, with subsequent concealment of the bodies”, with suspicion falling on an individual of nationality foreigner, residing in the vicinity of the place where the vehicle used by the victims was parked.

According to the police, during house searches at the suspect’s residence, “two legal firearms were seized, in addition to several illegally located weapons, namely, a ‘boxer’ with an attached blade, several daggers and a silencer, compatible with a weapon. of fire.”