Suspended sentence for police killing of unarmed civilian: family lodges appeal – Portugal Resident

The family of Odair Moniz – the Cape Verdean citizen gunned down by PSP police officer Bruno Pinto nearly two years ago – has appealed the suspended three and a half year jail term handed down, and is demanding greater financial compensation.

As reports explain, the appeal challenges several aspects of the judicial decision – from the assessment of the evidence to the reasoning of the ruling.

By considering that the facts found to be proven support the existence of direct intent and not conduct falling within a situation of excessive self-defence, the appeal argues that Bruno Pinto’s conviction should be increased, and that the sentence imposed should not be suspended, writes Expresso.

In the assessment by lawyer José Semedo Fernandes, the way the court reconstructed the events that preceded the shots and the police officer’s actions is called into question, says the paper. 

“The family’s defence points, in particular, to the motivation and dynamics of the pursuit, to the moment when the officer brandished the weapon during the physical confrontation and to the circumstances of the first shot, including the area of the body hit and the trajectory of the projectile. The justification found for a second shot is also challenged.

“For the family, the appealed decision contains a contradiction between the reasoning and the conclusion reached by the court,” explains Expresso.

A “clear error in the assessment of the evidence” is also invoked – arguing that the interpretation of events is not compatible with the forensic and documentary evidence contained in the case. 

The appeal therefore requests a new assessment of the relevant facts to determine the officer’s criminal liability.

Bruno Pinto’s conduct as a police officer is another of the central points of the appeal, with the argument that the specific rules governing the use of force by PSP officers were not properly considered. “At issue are the requirements of necessity, suitability, proportionality and exceptionality in resorting to coercive means with high lethal potential, taking into account that the officer was on duty, armed and had training in the use of the weapon”, says the paper.

On the civil side, the appeal challenges the amounts awarded for the death, and for the non-pecuniary damages suffered by the widow and children. It points to a “clear inadequacy in light of the proven facts, the intensity of the family’s suffering, the disruption of the household’s life plans, the intentional nature of the act and the particularly reprehensible conduct of an on-duty police officer, using a service firearm, against an unarmed citizen“.

According to the sentence, Bruno Pinto will have to compensate Odair Moniz’s family for his homicide, paying €20,000 to each of the heirs for their individual suffering, and a further €30,000 for loss of the right to life, again divided among the three heirs.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has also filed an appeal, seeking to have Pinto serve an actual prison sentence and be removed from the police force. 

In the appeal against the three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence decided by Sintra Court, prosecutor Pedro Pereira rejects the self-defence argument and accuses Bruno Pinto of having fired to kill.

With all this now playing out, Pinto meantime has returned to active duty, albeit the PSP hierarchy has said he is on desk duty, and unarmed.

Correio da Manhã today suggests Pinto has been placed in a police station on the ‘Margem Sul’ area, below Lisbon.

Source material: LUSA/ Observador/ Correio da Manhã