The verdict into Portugal’s longest running criminal court case has been postponed until early next month.
The so-called Casa Pia Case has been investigating alleged instances of sexual abuse involving young teenagers aged between 12 and 17 at the well-known Lisbon children’s home and educational facility, Casa Pia, since November 2004.
The verdict against those standing trial for abusing minors, including Portuguese TV presenter Carlos Cruz, the Casa Pia driver and caretaker Carlos ‘Bibi’ Silvino, and which has involved investigations into retired diplomat Jorge Ritto, Lisbon lawyer Hugo Marçal and Lisbon doctor Ferreira Diniz, will be read on August 5.
Other personalities mentioned and then dismissed from investigations included former PS party leader Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues and flamboyant TV presenter Herman José.
The verdicts were to be given today (Friday, July 9) but were postponed awaiting a social report on Carlos Silvino, himself a former abused Casa Pia orphan and pupil, who stands accused of abusing and procuring teenage boys for prostituted sex in a house in Elvas in the Alentejo in the 1980s.
Even so, the defendants will return to the court at Lisbon’s Campo de Justiça on Monday for final evaluations.
The psychological profile and report of Carlos Silvino, who is the main defendant in the case, will be prepared and studied by a team from the Institute of Social Reintegration, Instituto de Reinserção Social.
But, according to newspaper DN last week, the case could be postponed until September following the annual judicial summer break which runs between July 15 and August 31.
Carlos Cruz, the former RTP TV channel presenter and second most important defendant in the case, has always maintained his innocence and says he will post the case on his internet webpage and provide a citizens’ questions and answers platform into the case on www.processocarloscruz.com.
