Far from reacting with good sense, sensitivity and compassion in the case of the woman beaten with a nail-spiked club for having an affair, the President of the Supreme Court, António Henriques Gaspar, today warned that the public outcry against the suspended sentences given on appeal to her two aggressors, does not help her defence.
While referring directly to the case that has marked a part of Portugal’s judicial system as little more than a bigoted Star Chamber, Gaspar clearly warned the public to stay out of things that it does not understand.
The Supreme Court president warned that "the violence of the criticism" made in the past few days over the ruling of the Oporto Appeal Court, is not a good service for justice nor for the defence of the victims.
At the same time, he warned that "the manifestation of personal beliefs and states of soul ... are not helpful as an argument and do not contribute to the quality of jurisprudence."
The personal beliefs of the judge in question, Neto de Moura, led to the current outcry but as he is a judge, of course should be beyond criticism and protected by the legal hierarchy.
"The intensity and violence of criticism is not a good service for the functioning of justice, nor for the defence of victims."
António Henriques Gaspar’s soon-to-be-legendary comments were made during the inauguration of the new president of the Court of Appeal of Oporto, Nuno Ataíde das Neves, who we hope is aware that this is 2017 and the Penal Code to be used is from 1976, not 1886.
At issue is the judgment of the court in which the Judge criticised the moral behaviour of a woman victim of domestic violence, playing down the crime because she had ‘committed adultery.’
Judge Neto's summary contained the following description, "a woman committing adultery is a false, hypocritical, dishonest, disloyal, futile, immoral person. In short, she lacks moral probity. It is not surprising that she resorts to deception, farce, lies to hide her disloyalty."
During his speech, Henriques Gaspar, said that he could not speak of this specific case, although clearly he was, and pointed out that "in order to build trust, justice must communicate and communicate through written words, the decisions of the courts," noting that this communication "requires sobriety and semantic vigilance."
There is no question that the semantic vigilance of Neto's written work is first class as he laid into the victim's character in order to excuse her attackers.
The Higher Council of Magistrates already has opened an inquiry into the Judge whose extraordinary summing up has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, referring as he did to the Bible, the Penal Code of 1886 and even 'civilizations that punish adultery with the death penalty.'
This dangerous summary was used to justify the violence committed against the woman by her husband and former lover, who ended up with suspended sentences and fines despite having beaten her savagely with a nail-spiked club.
Demonstrations are planned for Lisbon and Oporto this weekend. These actions may not promote a 'good service for justice' but while justice fails to serve the victim, it is every citizen's right to speak out, demonstrate and complain without censure from the President of the Supreme Court.
