Suspect “passed through various European universities”
More unsettling details have emerged in today’s newspapers on the decapitation of a 34-year-old man from North Africa (‘Guinea’), allegedly at the hands of a Nigerian doctorate student.
According to Correio da Manhã (and widely repeated elsewhere), the suspect, named as ‘Jonathan Uno’, is believed to have kept the head of his victim in his fridge, before deciding to deliver it to Lisbon’s São José Hospital.
As previously explained, the head was ‘wrapped in tin foil’ – but what had not been revealed is that the alleged killer had washed it thoroughly, and in the words of investigators “treated it impeccably”.
The paper quotes a source for PJ police saying “it was clean and you could clearly see that it had been washed and cared for. It hadn’t been dragged around, nor had he mistreated it.”
Anyone reading this might be surprised by the expression that the head had not been “mistreated”, considering it was sliced from a man’s body. Police say they have the suspected weapon, a kitchen knife – ‘the illegal possession’ of which has also been mentioned on the suspect’s charge sheet.
Comments over social media have reacted to the PJ comments with sarcasm: “How delightful: Engineering student Jonathan Uno teaches us a lesson in civism. Here we have a great example of the benefits of cultural and religious diversity for our country. There is no doubt that immigration can be an asset. If he were a Portuguese bourgeois, perhaps from Trás-os-Montes, Beira, Alentejo, Algarve or even an islander, he would have buried this head without any respect or rapture. We have a lot to learn!”
Potentially just an unsettling is the fact that the suspect is studying for a doctorate, and has “passed through other European universities”.
None of this gels with meeting someone for the first time, and then cutting off their head.
It is hardly surprising that the national director of PSP police, Luís Carrilho, remarked that this murder – and another that took place in Greater Lisbon last week – are very much “isolated cases” in an otherwise comparatively safe country. It would be terrifying if they weren’t.
For now, the Nigerian doctorate student is remanded in custody while the investigation continues. A motive has not thrown itself up this far. It is quite simply a very unsettling case.
“Even the act of decapitation was done with some care”, said the PJ source, “as there really was not much blood on the ground, because the murderer used an article of clothing to absorb the blood and, at the same time, staunch the wound”. ND
Source: Correio da Manhã
