Four years in prison for the perpetrator confessed to seven crimes of theft committed, in Beja, inside vehicles. One of the victims withdrew from the criminal process.
John Lance, of 50 year old, known in police and prison circles as the "Passarinho", will spend more 4 years in prison, which will have to be added in juridical addition to the two and a half years that it is serving. The Public Prosecutor's Office may have the understanding that this penalty must be served successively.
The accused, born and resident in Beja, already with a long criminal record, was charged with seven counts of aggravated theft., ended up convicted by a Panel of Judges of the Court of Beja, for five of these crimes and another one of simple theft. A prison guard whose coat of service was stolen, among others., withdrew from the complaint which alleviated the penalty of the "Bird".
The six crimes, was sentenced to between six months and one year and six months in prison., in total 6 years and 10 months of imprisonment which, in legal terms, were “reduced†to 4 years of effective imprisonment.
Two of the thefts occurred in mid- 2019 and the rest in the last quarter of 2020, having João Lança, taking everything he found inside the vehicles he was assaulting. From cash to credit cards, of mobile phones and routers, from bags and sports equipment to glasses, passing through the prison guard's coat. In the first session of the trial, the defendant used the expression “it is true†seven times to confess the crimes before the Collective of Judges.
The defendant is imprisoned in the Lisbon Prison (EPL) where he is serving a sentence of 2 years of and 6 months in prison, the one who was sentenced in 3 December 2020, also for thefts. After the final decision, João Lança was absent for Spain, where he was detained in august of the current year, in fulfillment of a European Arrest Warrant.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
