Young woman accused of murder in Albufeira has judgement postponed again
The judgement of the trial of Mariana Carrilho, who stabbed Núria Gomes to death outside a nightclub in Albufeira, in April 2023, has been postponed again by Portimão Court.
This is the second time that the court decision has been postponed, after initially being scheduled for June 28th 2024 and postponed until yesterday, July 11th 2024. This time the postponement is due to the court officers' strike. The reading of the ruling is now scheduled for Monday 15th July, at 2:30 pm.
The postponement of the Juen 28th reading of this judgment of the trial was announced by the president of the panel of judges, Antonieta Nascimento, with no reasons given for setting the new date of July 11th.
On June 14th, at the trial, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) ruled that the Mariana Carrilho receive no less than 18 years in prison for the murder of Núria Gomes. In the closing arguments of the trial, the Public Prosecutor, Teresa Barata, claimed that it had been proven in the hearings that the defendant “acted with the intention of hitting” the victim by “using the knife she had with her”.
However, the defendants' lawyers requested her acquittal, "as there are many doubts" about who was responsible for the stabbing that caused the young woman's death, "since no one saw the attack, nor the knife in the defendant's hand". He claimed that “neither the witnesses nor the video surveillance images presented in court are enlightening, nor do they show the defendant stabbing the victim”.
“As so many doubts remain, the defendant must be acquitted,” the lawyer argued. At this point, the reading of the judgment was scheduled for June 28th, at 2:00 pm.
The facts date back to April 2023, when the two young women were involved in physical confrontations outside a nightclub, with Núria Gomes being stabbed and dying shortly afterwards.
The defendant, Mariana Carrilho, who is in preventive detention, is accused of a crime of qualified homicide, while her boyfriend at the time of the events, José Miguel Oliveira aged 21, is charged with the crimes of qualified assault on physical integrity and personal favouritism, for allegedly trying to get rid of the bladed weapon.
Silves: Car hit by a train - 3 seriously injured
Six people were injured after the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a train at the Poço Barreto level crossing, just outside Silves at around 8:15 this morning.
The six occupants of the seven-seater vehicle were all Dutch, three men and three women, aged between 18 and 25 years old.
Three of the young people were in serious condition, the two most serious were taken by helicopter to Faro hospital. The remaining four were transported by ambulance, all to Faro Hospital.
The alert to emergency services was given at 8:17 am, with 31 members of the Silves and Lagoa Fire Department, INEM and GNR all dispatched to the scene.
The sub-regional commander of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, Richard Marques, confirmed that “assistance to the people has been completed, with all of them having been removed from the scene, both the group of six injured people from the vehicle and the 24 passengers on the train”,
Due to the collision, the railway line was closed until the train had been removed from the line by Infraestruturas de Portugal. The track conditions were confirmed safe, and circulation on the Algarve Line was reestablished at around 11:30am.
Founder of Autódromo Internacional do Algarve dies, aged just 52
The founder and current chairman of the Board of Directors of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA), Paulo Pinheiro, died yesterday, a victim of illness, aged 52.
“It is with great regret and consternation that the AIA Administration announces the death of engineer Paulo Pinheiro, its founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors,” reads the statement.
A mechanical engineer by training and former driver, Paulo Pinheiro conceived and undertook the construction of the AIA, in Portimão, in 2008, being one of those responsible for the return of Formula 1 and MotoGP to Portugal.
The Algarve circuit has been part of the MotoGP World Championship calendar since 2020, with five races since then, and was also the stage for the return of Formula 1 in 2020 and 2021.
In addition to the AIA, he also created and managed the motorcycle and car racing team .
“His remarkable human and professional qualities left their mark on all those who had the privilege of meeting and working with him. At this time of pain and consternation, the AIA Administration extends its condolences to all of Paulo Pinheiro’s family and friends,” said the statement from the circuit’s press office.
Portuguese MotoGP rider Miguel Oliveira has praised Pinheiro, “Today a hero passed away for all of us. We, who love motorsport, cannot remain indifferent to Paulo's work. His dream came true and in it we were all able to dream and build memories that will last forever”, the Aprilia rider wrote. “A man like you never dies, you live through the work you leave and in our hearts forever and ever. I lost a friend but... how lucky I was to have crossed paths with you”, he continued in the message shared on his social networks, which he concluded by offering his condolences to Paulo Pinheiro's family.
Guia: 6 people arrested at illegal campsite
The GNR have arrested 6 people at an illegal campsite in Guia, Albufeira, charged with several crimes including tax fraud.
In a statement, the Guard reported that it has charged three men and three women, aged between 36 and 58, for violating urban planning rules, pollution, disobedience, damage and tax fraud.
According to the note, the Environmental Crimes and Offences Investigation Unit (NICCOA) of the Nature and Environment Protection Service (SEPNA) of the GNR carried out an inspection on Monday, at a campsite that operates “illegally” next to the well-known Guia shopping centre (Algarve Shopping). More than a hundred mobile homes are installed on the site, without a license.
In the statement, the GNR confirm that "mobile, prefabricated or wooden homes, containers, caravans or other similar solutions”, “are still subject to prior urban planning licensing, regardless of whether the construction or installation in question can be removed and moved to another location”.
According to the GNR statement, Environment Protection police carried out 25 search warrants, four at homes, six in mobile homes and 15 in vehicles, having detected ten infractions. As a result, ten administrative offence reports were drawn up, four for failure to pay circulation tax and six for failure to declare entry into national territory, which were sent to the Tax Authority (AT) and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) respectively.
During the operation, among other things, 45,253 euros in cash, 12 mobile homes, seven vehicles, a shotgun, a pistol and two air rifles were seized.
All findings were communicated to the Albufeira Judicial Court.
Environmentalists initiate legal proceedings to block desalination plants in the Algarve
Today, it has been announced that a platform that groups environmentalist associations has initiated legal proceedings to attempt to stop the the creation of desalination plants in the Algarve.
In a statement, the Sustainable Water Platform (PAS) claims that the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) issued on April 3rd by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) regarding the Preliminary Study of the Algarve Seawater Desalination Station Project (EDAM ), “does not meet the requirements that allow it to be classified as a DIA, and violates national and European laws”.
According to the “complaint” presented to the magistrate of the Public Ministry of the Judicial Court in Faro, it is requested that the institution “activate the necessary legal means, with a view to declaring the invalidity of the DIA issued, in view of the annulments from which it suffers, but above all due to nullities, definitively removing this administrative act from the legal order”.
The PAS had already contested the issuance of the favourable Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Portuguese Environment Agency at the beginning of April, promoting the construction of the seawater desalination station.
This Sustainable Water Platform was created in 2020, which groups together A Rocha Portugal, Água é Vida, AlBio - Algarve Agroecological Association, Almargem - Association for the Defense of Cultural and Environmental Heritage of the Algarve, CIVIS – Association for the Deepening of Citizenship, Ecotopia Environmental and Sustainable Development Association, FALA - Forum for the Environment of the Alentejo Coast, Faro 1540 - Association for the Defense and Promotion of the Environmental and Cultural Heritage of Faro, Glocal Faro, LPN - League for the Protection of Nature, Probaal - Association for o Barrocal Algarvio, Quercus – National Association for Nature Conservation and REGAR.
Among other arguments, the group once again emphasise that their “objective basis” is the fact that numerous elements of the project have not been presented and analyzed, which they consider to be “essential information and of central importance”, concluding that “several impacts of significant value were not assessed”.
On April 3rd, the Environment Agency issued the Environmental Impact Statement, favouring the seawater desalination plant project, which is to be installed in Albufeira, although subject to compliance with a set of conditions.
According to Environment Agency, despite considering that the impacts are not significant, “a set of demands aimed at safeguarding these possible impacts, as well as the development of possible additional minimization measures” were incorporated into the decision.
They say, given that the environmental impact assessment procedure occurred in the preliminary study phase, “a second assessment will occur in the execution project phase, with a view to verifying the environmental compliance of the execution project with the DIA.”
The construction of a desalination plant in Albufeira, costing at least 90 million euros, is one of the response measures to the drought affecting the southern region of Portugal, and it is expected that the equipment will have an initial capacity to convert potable sea water of 16 cubic hectometres.
According to Águas do Algarve, the company responsible for supplying water in the Algarve region, which is responsible for managing infrastructure such as dams or Wastewater Treatment Plants, the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.
Faro: police arrest a man for raping a young woman in public
Judicial Police in the Algarve arrested a 27 year old man last week, suspected of raping a young woman in the early hours of October 20th, 2023.
“The crime was reported the police authorities by the victim herself, on October 20th 2023, with investigations only recenty leading to the “identification of the suspect and the collection of relevant evidence, with the arrest of the alleged perpetrator being carried out on July 3, after the suspect returned from an absence abroad”.
The investigation revealed that “the victim, a 19 year old woman, had been approached by an unknown man as she was leaving a popular fair in the area” and was “coerced into sexual acts, through threats using a sharp weapon”.
The sexual assault occurred “in a public space, in a secluded location, but the victim was unable to seek help from any passers-by.”
The detainee will at last be brought before the judicial authority for the application of coercive measures.
