The Public Prosecutor's Office of Portimão lodged an appeal against the judgment that acquitted one of the women suspected of killing Diogo Gonçalves, in 2020, alleging a “notorious error” in the Court's assessment of the evidence.
On April 27th, the Court of Portimão decreed the “immediate restitution to freedom” and the end of the preventive detention of Mariana Fonseca.
"The Public Ministry maintains that there was a notorious error in the assessment of evidence by the Court and that, consequently, the acquitted defendant must be convicted along with the other defendant, in the crime of qualified homicide", reads a note posted on the website of the District Attorney of Faro.
Only 21-year-old Maria Malveiro had been convicted of a qualified homicide, serving a single 25-year sentence, while Mariana Fonseca was sentenced to four years in prison, remaining free until the decision is final.
"Following the death, both defendants dismembered the victim's body and spread it over several areas of the Algarve, this is co-authorship of desecrating a corpse", the note continues.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
