The trial begins today of the young PSP officer who shot and killed Cape Verdean cook Odair Moniz almost exactly a year ago, sparking days of rioting and violence in various parts of the capital.
This will be a tortuous replay of an incident that appears to have been ‘wrongly explained from the start’.
Initial statements by the PSP police suggested that father of two Moniz, 43, had been threatening the police trying to apprehend him with a knife. The knife and Moniz’s alleged wielding of it being the reason for shots having been fired.
The problem with this story is that it didn’t hold up under investigation. Indeed, according to Público yesterday, the knife only ‘appeared’ in images from the scene (a mixture of mobile phone footage by local residents, and CCTV cameras) 27 minutes after two fatal shots that hit Moniz were fired.
Today, the lawyer for Moniz’s family, José Semedo Fernandes, said today he hopes justice will be done at Sintra Central Criminal Court, where Bruno Pinto, 28, stands accused of ‘simple murder’ in Cova da Moura, Amadora, on October 21, 2024.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office’s indictment states that Moniz, a resident of the Zambujal neighborhood (also in Amadora), was hit with two shots – the first in the chest area, fired from between 20 and 50 centimeters away; and a second in the groin area, fired from between 75 centimeters and one meter away.
According to the indictment, the incident occurred after Moniz attempted to flee from the PSP, thus ‘resisting arrest’ – with no threat involving the use of a bladed weapon, as initially claimed.
Pinto, if found guilty, faces a sentence of between eight to 16 years in prison, writes Lusa.
Source: LUSA
