Shooting of Odair Moniz sparked wave of disturbances throughout capital in October
The PSP police force has transferred one of the young agents involved in the far-from-clear fatal shooting of Cape Verdean Odair Moniz in Cova da Moura in October.
The agent who fired the shots will also be transferred as soon as he reports for duty again (he has taken psychological sick leave since the incident).
The transfers, say the PSP, are for ‘security reasons’. These same reasons have resulted in the police force not revealing the new place of work of the two agents.
This update is being reported by Expresso today, a month and a half on from the incident that sparked a wave of violent disturbances throughout Lisbon suburbs.
As Expresso explains, it is worth remembering that the agent who shot Moniz has already been heard by PJ judicial police, but because a magistrate from the Public Prosecutor’s Office was not present, he will have to be questioned again.
The young agent said at the time that there had been a physical confrontation with Odair Moniz, after a police chase, but confessed that there had been no attempt to assault him with a bladed weapon – contrary to the account given by the PSP in an official statement.
The agent is currently facing the charge of simple homicide, but there is still no date set for a hearing.
Meantime, considering the length of time that has passed without any official updates, parliament yesterday approved a hearing of minister of internal affairs, Margarida Blasco.
MPs seek clarification on the death of Odair Moniz, the actions of the PSP and the riots that followed in Greater Lisbon, says Expresso, adding that “a month ago, Blasco said that the outcome of the disciplinary process against the PSP agent who killed Odair Moniz would be known soon”.
Investigations by the PJ and the Inspectorate-General for Internal Administration are also ‘still ongoing’, a month and a half after the incident.
And on the subject of the rioting that followed Moniz’s killing, the paper has given a curious insight into why they calmed down.
Chief Superintendent Bastos Leitão – who headed up the PSP’s Criminal Investigation Division for four years – told Expresso that the strong police presence made it ‘very difficult’ for the drug trafficking business.
“The leaders of these criminal groups didn’t want the police around when they had to do their day-to-day business. The burnt-out buses and rubbish bins that forced the constant presence of the police spoilt their business”, he said, recalling “a similar phenomenon” in 2011 during the riots in the Bela Vista neighbourhood in Setúbal. “The perpetrators of these acts of violence were warned by the drug lords to stop hostilities with the same kind of argument: the extended police presence was dispersing buyers and drug sales.”
There were roughly 140 ‘disturbances’ at the end of October in retaliation for Odair’s fatal shooting. The most serious episode took place in a neighbourhood in Loures, when a Carris bus driver was cruelly burned along with his bus, and almost lost his life.
Two men, Wilson Tavares Mendes and Pedro Daniel Quadros, aged 22 and 23, have been arrested for this attack, and charged with attempted murder. They remain in preventive custody while investigations continue. It is believed that at least six others were involved in the torching of the Carris bus.
