Beja: Trial of German elderly homicide suspects begins today

A 54-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, suspected of the murder of an elderly German couple, in Baleizão, begin to be tried today, at the Beja Court, reveals Agência Lusa.

According to the indictment, to which Lusa had access, the two defendants, who remain in pre-trial detention, are each accused of two crimes of qualified homicide and one crime of qualified theft.

The murder of the elderly people, of German nationality, according to the accusation, occurred on April 16, 2023, on the couple’s farm, in Baleizão, in the municipality of Beja, but the bodies were only found by the authorities almost a month later, in on May 11th, after an alert given by his son, who lives in Germany.

According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) indictment, the two defendants did not work and lived with the mother of the alleged killer in a rented house in Baleizão, but were evicted due to non-payment of rent.

It was then that the elderly German, aged 79, “sensitive to the precarious economic and financial situation of the defendants”, invited them to live on his farm, in return for helping with the garden and domestic services, the document highlights.

Pointing out that, at a certain point, the defendants came to understand that the services provided should be paid for, the MP points out that the elderly couple disagreed and that this gave rise to “a climate of tension” and frequent arguments.

“Probably on April 16, 2023”, after dinner, the defendants went to a room where the 71-year-old woman was alone and “inflicted several blows on her using an iron bar”, reports the indictment order.

Afterwards, the MP describes, the defendant went to call the elderly German man, who was in an annex, and, when he entered the house, the two alleged murderers hit him with “several blows, using an iron bar, on the head , trunk and limbs”.

The defendants, together with the mother of the alleged killer, left the farm that night, but, days later, the two returned to take possession of the elderly people’s bank cards and a car, according to the indictment.

According to the MP, the two defendants used their bank cards to purchase food and other products and even drove the victims’ car around Aljustrel, also in the district of Beja, where they had moved.

Later, they ended up selling the vehicle, through an advertisement in a newspaper, for 200 euros, he adds.

The alleged murderers were arrested by the Judiciary Police (PJ), in the early hours of May 12, 2023, in the municipality of Aljustrel.

Radio Pax/Lusa