Identity of corpse still a mystery, although ethnicity confirmed
Yesterday’s grisly discovery of a headless body in a narrow alleyway in Lisbon’s Baixa district is being investigated in the context of a ‘battle for supremacy in drug trafficking’ in the area.
The fact that the body – of a man from North Africa – showed no signs of violence beyond the missing of the head (there was no pool of blood, or even much in the way of traces of blood) indicates that the decapitation will have been done elsewhere, and the body later dumped where it was found by a security guard employed to watch over a construction project in the area.
An autopsy will be going ahead, even in the absence of the man’s head, as it may give some added clues to investigators.
For now, the man’s identity remains unknown (no documents were found on the body), and investigations are said t be centring on the alleyway, known as Pátio do Salema, as it is a well-known haunt of both rough-sleepers and drug-takers.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã adds that nearby “Largo de São Domingos, situated at one of the points of Pátio do Salema, and Martim Moniz, on the other, are much greater concerns for police. The first is known as a place for the reception of stolen material (it was here that the computers stolen from the general secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration were found) and where hundreds of people, of innumerous nationalities gather daily. Martim Moniz has also been the place of frequent arrests for drug trafficking, with one nationality gaining supremacy: Gambian. For this reason, the scenario of the origin of the violent death of the man, being a settling of scores connected to the trafficking of drugs is seen as the most probable”.
Investigators are trawling through images taken by CCTV cameras – and trying to see if this crime is related to another, involving the murder of an 85-year-old Gambian man in Campo Grande earlier this year.
Since this story went up online, local people, and those who work in the area, have been talking about their concern about an area in which there are “frequent dispute” and a high level of drug-taking.
A talk show has also elicited a comment that should win a prize. In reference to the fact that the ‘head is still missing’, an ‘expert’ suggested “the author of the crime may have sought to delay identification of the victim…” This has certainly been achieved.
As for the other ‘strange death’ of the week: that of a woman in her 50s found in the ‘boot’ of her vehicle, this has turned out to have been a sudden death while the woman was changing clothes.
Reports explain that the vehicle was ‘not a car’, but a small van, and the ‘boot’ was actually the back area, without seats.
The woman’s body was found due to the smell emanating from the vehicle, parked on Costa da Caparica (Almada).
Source material: Correio da Manhã
