News from Brazil today is that Joaquim Lara Pinto, the principal suspect in the brutal death of Portimão schoolboy Rodrigo Lapa, is to stand trial for qualified murder and the “desecration”of the 15-year-old’s body.
Exactly two years and three months since Rodrigo was reported missing from the home he shared with his mother, baby half-sister and Pinto, the case that shocked the country for its level of brutality looks like reaching some form of closure.
Says Observador, five volumes of police evidence against Pinto are being sent to Brazil so that the fact that the two countries have no extradition agreement between them can be bypassed.
Joaquim Lara Pinto will be tried in his home country – thanks to huge efforts behind the scenes by Portuguese lawyer Pedro Proença.
Proença has been fighting Rodrigo’s case in the name of the dead boy’s father Sérgio for months (click here).
He told us in March that he was hoping for news “soon”: today is clearly the day.
Subscribers to social media pages set up after Rodrigo’s battered body was found on scrubland less than 100 metres from his home, are “celebrating” after so many months where it looked like the teenager’s death was in danger of being ‘forgotten’.
“Finally, justice for Rodrigo Lapa”, writes Facebook page “Juntos Pelo Rodrigo Lapa e Por Todas as Crianças” which goes on to thank Pedro Proença Advocacia (law office), the page’s 41,144 followers and online newspaper Observador “for the excellent work” all have done in keeping this case alive.
“The time has come” writes the jubilant “Rodrigo Lapa, O nosso menino” page which has over 2000 followers.
Today, Observador quotes Pedro Proença saying that the Portuguese Public Ministry, “believes that the evidence that accuses Joaquim Lara Pinto is sufficiently strong for the case to be judged over there”.
“After being heard by Portimão’s PJ police, Célia Barreto, Rodrigo’s mother, confessed that she witnessed the aggression suffered by her son, and that she heard his screams on the day of his disappearance”, adds Observador.
Célia Barreto’s change of story will have been pivotal. Originally she told police that she had waved Rodrigo off to school on the morning of the day she later reported his absence. By the time authorities had mounted a search, Pinto was en-route for Brazil, where, in the early days, it was understood he kept in contact with Rodrigo’s mother.
What happens next is the news everyone in Portugal will be waiting for.
Pinto has variously said he had nothing to do with Rodrigo’s death and that his mind is a blur as he suffers from post-traumatic stress (click here).
When he left Portimão, Pinto’s last known job was as a bottle washer for a hotel.
Observador has tried to get a comment from Pinto’s lawyer, Raphael Arantes – who originally claimed his client was innocent – but as of today Arantes has not given any kind of statement.
It is not clear from reports so far whether Pinto is already in police custody.
His hometown of Cuiabá, Brazil, has been described as a “problematic neighbourhood” where violent crimes and killings take place every day.
Observador says that what should happen is that “the suspect will now be arrested and presented before a judge”.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
