A man who ran over 13 people at Praia da Rocha, in Portimão, back in 2015, and who was sentenced to six years in prison, was caught and arrested this week on Monday in Sacavém, Lisbon, to finally serve his sentence.
The PSP police officers indicated in a statement that there was a warrant for the arrest of the 30-year-old man for the crime of offense to serious physical integrity on thirteen counts, which occurred five years ago in Portimão.
“At the time, at the age of 25, with no legal license to drive and with alcohol in his blood, he ran over 13 people on a road limited to circulation,” the police statement reads.
The man was sentenced in court to six and a half years in prison, but he appealed, and in 2019 the Évora Court of Appeal reduced the sentence to six years for being “a primary offender and showing himself to be socially integrated”. However, the accused did not appear to serve the effective sentence, which led to the arrest warrant.
The events date back to the early morning of July 12, 2015, when the man, while driving on a road with moderate traffic, disobeyed two police orders to stop and accelerated in full speed running over 13 people on Avenida Tomás Cabreira, next to the Catedral disco in Praia da Rocha, Portimão.
The PSP said at the time that the man tried to escape, but he was caught right away, having revealed an alcohol rate of 0.7 grams per liter of blood. In court, the driver claimed that he was scared to see the police and that he tried to brake but was unable to.
The 13 wounded were assisted at the scene and then transported to the Barlavento Algarvio hospital, where two of them were announced to be seriously injured. The man detained on Monday in Sacavém was taken straight to a Lisbon prison where he will serve six years in prison.
