The court in Faro has authorised a young man who is under house arrest, accused of stabbing his father to death, to travel to work and see a doctor.
Maurício Cavaco was 19 years old when the crime took place in December 2023 at the family home, in the village of Várzea do Vinagre, Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo, in the district of Faro. The young man allegedly intervened to defend his mother from an episode of domestic violence, stabbing his 63 year old father to death.
The young man is being tried by a jury in Faro.
“We believe that you need to work and go to the doctor, at your own expense,” said the president of the panel of judges during yesterday’s session of the trial, noting that the authorisation “does not mean that it is an anticipation of the final decision.”
The authorisation granted will allow the young man to leave his aunt's house, where he is under house arrest, strictly only to attend his future workplace and for psychological monitoring.
The young man's defense lawyer told Lusa news agency that she had already requested in December 2024 permission for the young man to be authorised to work, so that he could be “minimally integrated into society”, which had been denied.
The change of opinion of the group of judges and the jury court resulted from them hearing conclusions of the psychiatrist who carried out an examination of the young man a month after the crime. The specialist from Faro Hospital recalled that he diagnosed the accused with “post-traumatic stress, depressive disorder and anxiety disorder”, based on “a series” of emotional and affective instabilities.
The psychiatrist considered that the young man “is a broken person, in terms of self-esteem”, and that he had “disturbed memories”, blaming himself for the act and attributing the role of victim to his father, which would result from the “chronic stress” to which he was allegedly subjected.
According to the expert, at the time of the crime, the “self-defense situation” implied “the reduction in the assessment of the consequences of an aggression of such caliber” and “the complete nullification of the assessment of the unlawfulness” of the act.
The doctor argued that the young man, if not treated, could have “more explosive” attitudes and reactions and “more unpredictable” behaviour, although he warned that he would be “more dangerous against himself” than against other people, and, when asked by the defense if he would be a danger to society, as long as he was treated, he responded negatively.
The defense highlighted to Lusa that the psychiatrist's testimony accentuated what he himself had already described in the forensic report submitted to the court, which “considered the absence of the subjective element of guilt”, that is, “that he had no intention of committing the illicit act”.
However, the court ordered a new psychiatric examination to be carried out, “so that there are no doubts whatsoever”, according to the president of the panel of judges.
The court wants to determine, among other issues, whether at the time of the events the defendant had a psychological anomaly that could have disturbed the assessment of the unlawfulness of the act, and whether he had the capacity to understand the consequences of that act.
The trial will resume on March 12th, to hear the nurse and the doctor from the National Institute of Medical Emergencies who helped the young man's father and for the final arguments.
In the first session of the trial, on January 9th, Maurício Cavaco admitted to the crime, having been the one to call the national emergency number, but said he did not remember the moment he struck the first blow and the rest, at a time when his mother had already left the house to ask the neighbours for help.
The young man reported that he had never thought about killing his father, describing him as a violent person and saying that, for at least the last 10 years, he and his mother had been the target of constant insults, humiliations and threats from the man, who even threatened to kill his wife.
The young man is under house arrest at his aunt's house, after having spent a few months in prison awaiting the procedures for placing an electronic bracelet.
Last year, several hundred people signed a petition for the young man's release, claiming that he was a victim of mistreatment, and that he does not pose a danger to society.
