Pre-selection of jurors for trial of pregnant woman from Murtosa postponed for the second time

The pre-selection draw for jurors for the trial of the suspect in the murder of a pregnant woman in Murtosa was postponed today for the second time, at the Aveiro Court, due to the strike by judicial employees, a judicial source reported.

Speaking to Lusa, the presiding judge of the Aveiro District, Jorge Bispo, explained that the hearing scheduled for 1:30 pm at the Aveiro Court was postponed due to the strike by court employees, and the new date is not yet known.

The draw was already scheduled for last Thursday, but was postponed for the same reason.

The aim of this effort is to randomly select 100 voters from the electoral rolls of the 12 municipalities of the Aveiro District, who will then have to respond to a survey, within five days, to find out whether they meet the essential capacity requirements to perform the role, with those who do not meet the requirements being eliminated.

Then, there will be a second draw based on the number of non-rejected responses, which for this purpose are enclosed in identical envelopes, from which 18 are removed and it is from this group that the eight jurors will finally emerge (four full jurors and four substitutes).

At the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), the trial, which is scheduled for May 19, will be held by a jury court, consisting of three professional judges and eight jurors.

The alleged murderer was arrested by the Judicial Police (PJ) in November 2023, and, after being present at the first judicial interrogation, he was placed in preventive detention, being transferred a month later to house arrest, the situation in which he currently finds himself.

The defendant is accused of the crimes of qualified homicide, abortion, desecration of a corpse, illegitimate access and acquisition of counterfeit currency to be put into circulation.

The MP's accusation states that the defendant and the victim maintained an intimate relationship for about a year (which he always tried to keep secret), as a result of which she became pregnant.

According to the investigation, the defendant decided to kill the victim and the fetus she was carrying, after she informed him that she was pregnant, on September 29, 2023, in order to prevent paternity from being attributed to him and benefiting from his assets.

To this end, “he devised a plan that included disposing of his body and the fetus, eliminating contacts that linked him to that person and the traces of his death, and diverting any suspicion of the crimes from himself”, describes the MP.

In the following days, the defendant allegedly carried out research on how to delete conversations with the victim from social media and purchased a prepaid SIM card to put in an old mobile phone without an Internet connection, which he allegedly used to schedule the meeting with the victim for October 3.

The MP's accusation also states that on that day, shortly after 9:00 pm, the victim met the defendant at her residence, armed with ultrasound scans of her pregnancy, and accompanied him to the Torreira apartment, where he “killed the victim and the fetus she was carrying”.

“Soon after, during the early hours of October 4th and in the following days, the defendant disposed of the victim’s body, taking it to an unknown location, hiding it and preventing it from being found”, adds the prosecution, adding that the defendant also disposed of all his belongings and a rug from the apartment’s living room and carried out deep cleaning operations inside the apartment and in the common areas.

According to the prosecution, the defendant accessed the victim's cell phone and, pretending to be her, sent two messages on social media to a third individual, insinuating that she was being threatened by him, and also communicated with the victim's family, denying any meeting with her.

The pre-selection draw for jurors for the trial of the suspect in the murder of a pregnant woman in Murtosa was postponed today for the second time, at the Aveiro Court, due to the strike by judicial employees, a judicial source reported.

Speaking to Lusa, the presiding judge of the Aveiro District, Jorge Bispo, explained that the hearing scheduled for 1:30 pm at the Aveiro Court was postponed due to the strike by court employees, and the new date is not yet known.

The draw was already scheduled for last Thursday, but was postponed for the same reason.

The aim of this effort is to randomly select 100 voters from the electoral rolls of the 12 municipalities of the Aveiro District, who will then have to respond to a survey, within five days, to find out whether they meet the essential capacity requirements to perform the role, with those who do not meet the requirements being eliminated.

Then, there will be a second draw based on the number of non-rejected responses, which for this purpose are enclosed in identical envelopes, from which 18 are removed and it is from this group that the eight jurors will finally emerge (four full jurors and four substitutes).

At the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), the trial, which is scheduled for May 19, will be held by a jury court, consisting of three professional judges and eight jurors.

The alleged murderer was arrested by the Judicial Police (PJ) in November 2023, and, after being present at the first judicial interrogation, he was placed in preventive detention, being transferred a month later to house arrest, the situation in which he currently finds himself.

The defendant is accused of the crimes of qualified homicide, abortion, desecration of a corpse, illegitimate access and acquisition of counterfeit currency to be put into circulation.

The MP's accusation states that the defendant and the victim maintained an intimate relationship for about a year (which he always tried to keep secret), as a result of which she became pregnant.

According to the investigation, the defendant decided to kill the victim and the fetus she was carrying, after she informed him that she was pregnant, on September 29, 2023, in order to prevent paternity from being attributed to him and benefiting from his assets.

To this end, “he devised a plan that included disposing of his body and the fetus, eliminating contacts that linked him to that person and the traces of his death, and diverting any suspicion of the crimes from himself”, describes the MP.

In the following days, the defendant allegedly carried out research on how to delete conversations with the victim from social media and purchased a prepaid SIM card to put in an old mobile phone without an Internet connection, which he allegedly used to schedule the meeting with the victim for October 3.

The MP's accusation also states that on that day, shortly after 9:00 pm, the victim met the defendant at her residence, armed with ultrasound scans of her pregnancy, and accompanied him to the Torreira apartment, where he “killed the victim and the fetus she was carrying”.

“Soon after, during the early hours of October 4th and in the following days, the defendant disposed of the victim’s body, taking it to an unknown location, hiding it and preventing it from being found”, adds the prosecution, adding that the defendant also disposed of all his belongings and a rug from the apartment’s living room and carried out deep cleaning operations inside the apartment and in the common areas.

According to the prosecution, the defendant accessed the victim's cell phone and, pretending to be her, sent two messages on social media to a third individual, insinuating that she was being threatened by him, and also communicated with the victim's family, denying any meeting with her.

The pre-selection draw for jurors for the trial of the suspect in the murder of a pregnant woman in Murtosa was postponed today for the second time, at the Aveiro Court, due to the strike by judicial employees, a judicial source reported.

Speaking to Lusa, the presiding judge of the Aveiro District, Jorge Bispo, explained that the hearing scheduled for 1:30 pm at the Aveiro Court was postponed due to the strike by court employees, and the new date is not yet known.

The draw was already scheduled for last Thursday, but was postponed for the same reason.

The aim of this effort is to randomly select 100 voters from the electoral rolls of the 12 municipalities of the Aveiro District, who will then have to respond to a survey, within five days, to find out whether they meet the essential capacity requirements to perform the role, with those who do not meet the requirements being eliminated.

Then, there will be a second draw based on the number of non-rejected responses, which for this purpose are enclosed in identical envelopes, from which 18 are removed and it is from this group that the eight jurors will finally emerge (four full jurors and four substitutes).

At the request of the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), the trial, which is scheduled for May 19, will be held by a jury court, consisting of three professional judges and eight jurors.

The alleged murderer was arrested by the Judicial Police (PJ) in November 2023, and, after being present at the first judicial interrogation, he was placed in preventive detention, being transferred a month later to house arrest, the situation in which he currently finds himself.

The defendant is accused of the crimes of qualified homicide, abortion, desecration of a corpse, illegitimate access and acquisition of counterfeit currency to be put into circulation.

The MP's accusation states that the defendant and the victim maintained an intimate relationship for about a year (which he always tried to keep secret), as a result of which she became pregnant.

According to the investigation, the defendant decided to kill the victim and the fetus she was carrying, after she informed him that she was pregnant, on September 29, 2023, in order to prevent paternity from being attributed to him and benefiting from his assets.

To this end, “he devised a plan that included disposing of his body and the fetus, eliminating contacts that linked him to that person and the traces of his death, and diverting any suspicion of the crimes from himself”, describes the MP.

In the following days, the defendant allegedly carried out research on how to delete conversations with the victim from social media and purchased a prepaid SIM card to put in an old mobile phone without an Internet connection, which he allegedly used to schedule the meeting with the victim for October 3.

The MP's accusation also states that on that day, shortly after 9:00 pm, the victim met the defendant at her residence, armed with ultrasound scans of her pregnancy, and accompanied him to the Torreira apartment, where he “killed the victim and the fetus she was carrying”.

“Soon after, during the early hours of October 4th and in the following days, the defendant disposed of the victim’s body, taking it to an unknown location, hiding it and preventing it from being found”, adds the prosecution, adding that the defendant also disposed of all his belongings and a rug from the apartment’s living room and carried out deep cleaning operations inside the apartment and in the common areas.

According to the prosecution, the defendant accessed the victim's cell phone and, pretending to be her, sent two messages on social media to a third individual, insinuating that she was being threatened by him, and also communicated with the victim's family, denying any meeting with her.