The case of the Parchal scrap yard owner who was murdered last March has been heard and the defendant judged.
José Ganhão is to serve 21 years for the aggravated homicide of Luis Duarte, 76, whom he killed with two shots in the head.
The motive was robbery.
José Ganhão and Luis Duarte, 76, the owner of the scrap metal business Auto Pecusa in Pateiro/Parchal, Lagoa, struck up a friendship with the younger man who called the pensioner ‘dad’ in an increasingly close relationship.
Then in March 2014 it all went violently wrong as Ganhão shot the elderly man in the head, having beaten him with a stick in his own office, stealing money from the safe and fleeing.
José Ganhão was sentenced in Portimão court to 21 years in prison, 18 for aggravated murder, three years for using a prohibited weapon, two years for theft and six months for car theft.
The victim's lawyer referred to the crime as ‘horrific and macabre’ which had been thought out and planned.
Carla Silva e Cunha said that the victim and the murderer had been "friends for many years and had an almost father-child relationship."
The court also ordered the defendant to pay the victim's family €51,150 in damages.
See also: http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/1693-owner-of-breakers-yard-murdered-in-pateiro-lagoa
