“For my part, what I have to say is that I didn’t kill them. I have a clear conscience.”, told the Collective of Judges (CJ) the Court of Beja, Monica Lourenço, the wife of 38 year old, that together with your partner, Fernando Belmonte, of 54 year old, in the first session of the trial in which they face two crimes of murder and one of robbery, all qualified. Turn, the accused, He referred to the silence.
The woman began by mentioning, in a very altered tone and not very respectful of the CJ, that “I disagree with everything that is written there (referring to the indictment order). It's dark. It was not possible for me to disagree when I was heard during the interrogation”, justified.
“In the years I spend trying homicides, and there are many, No one ever killed anyone.”, said the judge presiding over the trial, reprimanding the defendant, in the face of his arrogant and disrespectful behavior.
Mónica “discharged” all responsibility for the murders and robbery, of the vehicle and victims' cards, in the companion, having accused him of having accused her “a few days before the crimes, but then he apologized to me.”, adding that “I never heard anyone scream for help, I didn't see anything at all. Fernando was first alone at home with his wife and then he sent me to call the man. After a few minutes he said that we had to leave the place and he didn’t give any explanation.”, testimony that did not convince the judges. The woman said that they only took a bag with her belongings where “Fernando put an object, but I didn’t see what it was.”, said.
Regarding the responsibility of those who stole the victims' car and cards, Monica, said that “I never went back to the farm again. It was Fernando who went there and brought the car and cards. I don’t have to see that”, justifying that this happened because the couple “had a debt for the four days we worked on the farm. Fernando matou-se there working”, expression that one of the judges said was not very happy for the couple being judged.
Fernando and Mónica are accused of having killed on the day 16 April 2023, the German couple Jan Otton, of 79 years and Ilse Ediltraud, of 71 year old, who welcomed them at Quinta do Paraíso Janedi, in Baleizão, county Beja,
The bodies of the septuagenarian couple were only discovered 10 May of this year, after an alert from the victims' son who was unable to contact his parents.
The GNR went to the scene and as the residents showed no sign of life, they informed the 112 who called the firefighters “to open a door”, discovering the bodies in an advanced state of decomposition inside the house.
The defendants were arrested on the day 12 May 2023, in Aljustrel, by inspectors of South Directorate of the Judicial Police, and the following day they were present at the first interrogation, to a Criminal Investigation Judge of the Beja Court, which applied the most severe measure of coercion to them, the man is in pre-trial detention at the Prison Establishment (EP) by Beja and his wife in Odemira's EP.
Fernando and Móbica risk the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison each.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist()
