Odair Moniz’ PSP ‘killer’ has been charged with murder
The widow of Odair Moniz, the Cape Verdean chef shot dead by a young police agent in Amadora last October in circumstances that, at the time, remained far from clear, is requesting €200,000 in compensation from her former husband’s killer.
This incident sparked a wave of violence across the capital, particularly as the original police account of the shooting proved not to have been completely truthful.
The justification of ‘self defence’ fell flat, particularly after it was concluded that the ‘knife’ Moniz had allegedly threatened police with may have been planted. And after various inquiries and investigations, the young PSP agent responsible for the shooting was charged with murder and suspended from duty.
The widow’s request for compensation has been filed by lawyer José Semedo Fernandes who is “accompanying the Public Prosecutions Office’s accusation of murder”, explains Público today, stressing that Fernandes’ client has been on psychological sick leave since the death of her husband, the father of her two children, one aged 20, the other aged just 3.
“As a result of this crime and his tragic disappearance” the widow “was deprived of her husband, the love of her life, her friend, her confidant, her support, with non-pecuniary damages that are difficult to quantify, particularly given (her husband’s) age and role in her life,” says he claim. “With this physical and premature disappearance, the cohabitation, co-operation and assistance that her husband so clearly provided for her also disappeared”, while she was put through an extraordinary level of anguish, as well as media pressure.
As Público recalls, Amadora court referred to the fact that eye witness accounts, and CCTV images from the time of the shooting did not confirm the existence of the knife with which Odair Moniz was alleged to have threatened police with. “Nor was any knife seen next to the body while reanimation efforts were underway, or when it was removed by INEM”, said the court.
In other words, much as so many accounts suggested at the time, there appears little foundation for having taken the life of Odair Moniz, which makes what happened so incredibly difficult for his widow to bear. ND
Source material: Público
