A GNR police officer who killed a child during a car chase has been jailed for nine years and ordered to pay €80,000 in compensation – €20,000 of which has to be paid to the child’s convicted criminal father.
Officer Hugo Hernano shot the 12-year-old when in pursuit of a car driven by the child’s father who had been stealing construction materials from a warehouse.
The officer was trying to get the car to stop. The child, a passenger in the car, was tragically hit by police bullets and a court in Loures has decided that Officer Hernano must not only pay for this with a custodial sentence, but also financially: €60,000 in compensation to the child’s mother and a further €20,000 to the father, who himself received a two-and-a-half year sentence for resisting arrest, disobeying authorities and providing false testimonies.
Officer Hernano’s lawyer says his client will now be appealing.
The incident took place in August 2008 in Santo Antão do Tojal, Loures.
