The three will also have to pay compensation of 165 thousand euros to the mother of the fatal victim, Igor Silva, who, at the time of the crime, was 26 years old. Four other defendants who were also accused of the crime of murder – Diogo Meireles “Xió”, Rui Costa, Sérgio Machado and Miguel Pereira – were acquitted. Marco Gonçalves’ wife, Marisa, his daughter, Iara, and a family friend, Cassandra, were sentenced to suspended sentences for crimes of bodily harm.
During the reading of the ruling, which took place at the São João Novo Court, under tight security measures, the presiding judge stated that the defendants acted in “combination of efforts”, chasing, restraining and delivering successive blows to Igor Silva, preventing the your escape. “They did not know how to curb their impulses, acting out of revenge and in an escalation of violence driven by family disagreements”, said Isabel Teixeira.
As an example, the judge recalled that Renato Gonçalves only suffered a single stab wound (Igor Silva received 18). “The defendants say they didn’t do any of this. Renato is the only one who admits being stabbed, but the rest, which is a fact, were there,” she stated.
The judge stressed that, in addition to the testimonies of witnesses who were at Estádio do Dragão that night, video surveillance images were essential to determine what happened.
Iara, Cassandra and Renato “were young adults” at the time of the crime and, in theory, could benefit from the special regime for young people, which allows penalties to be mitigated. However, in the case of Renato, “the community would not understand” if that regime were applied to him, the collective understood, applying that regime to the two young women.
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