“Women are being treated like things to be abused and attacked,” PJ director warns
Portugal’s top law enforcement officials issued a stark warning today about the growing threat of violence against young women, both online and offline, and called for a major rethink in how the justice system handles domestic abuse cases.
Speaking at a national seminar on domestic violence at the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) headquarters, national PJ director Luís Neves described a disturbing increase in domestic violence – a crime he dubbed “absolutely intolerable.”
He also highlighted the growing trend of online ‘games’ where the goal is to “rape or physically assault” women. “This is utterly unspeakable, especially when it comes to young women,” the PJ director said.
In just the last 10 days, PJ investigators have made three arrests for rape, all involving young victims and perpetrators known to them. The cases, he said, reflect an “intolerable” tendency of women being seen as “targets” for abuse.
PJ police in Portugal are also working with Brazilian authorities on a chilling transnational case involving a 17-year-old from Santa Maria da Feira, in the north of Portugal. The teen, currently in custody, is accused of encouraging a mass school attack in Brazil in 2023, which led to the death of a young girl. Investigators believe he also planned to kill homeless people while livestreaming the acts and was involved in the online coordination of group sexual assaults on underage girls, some of whom were later blackmailed and pressured to self-harm, Neves explained.
According to the PJ director, these cases are “signs that there is a very specific focus on women, and young women, who are treated like things to be abused and attacked”.
Meanwhile, Prosecutor-General Amadeu Guerra also spoke at the event to advocate for a major policy shift in how domestic violence cases are handled in Portugal.
As so often is the case, victims end up having to leave their homes to flee from their abusive partners. According to Guerra, “this makes no sense”.
“I aim to suggest to the Minister of Justice that it should be the aggressor leaving the house and not the victim,” the prosecutor said.
Guerra also pushed for stronger legal mechanisms to protect victims early in the process, including the use of recorded testimony to spare them from reliving trauma during multiple interviews.
For stronger legal cases to be built, he stressed the importance of hearing not just from victims, but from medical professionals and the accused.
His remarks come in the wake of two controversial cases involving Victor Hugo Salgado, mayor of Vizela, whose domestic violence investigation was dropped after his wife declined to testify. A second inquiry has since been opened, reports Observador newspaper, this time regarding alleged abuse of their 10-year-old son.
