Azores Situation Report Wednesday 13th March 2024
Body of man found submerged near Porto dos Carneiros on the island of São Miguel
The body of a man was found today in the water trapped in the rocks near Porto dos Carneiros, in the municipality of Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, the National Maritime Authority (AMN) announced.
According to AMN, the alert for the occurrence, whose causes are unknown, was given at 09:35 local time (10:35 in Lisbon), to the Lisbon Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC Lisbon), by a fisherman submarine that detected a submerged body.
Following the alert, “the crew from the Ponta Delgada Lifeguard Station and a team of divers from the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Fire Department were immediately called to the scene”.
The source said in a statement that the team of divers collected the body, which was transported on the boat from the Lifeguard Station to Ponta Delgada, “where death was declared by the Health Delegate”.
“The body was later transported by the Ponta Delgada Volunteer Firefighters to the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital,” he added.
There were also members of the local Command of the Ponta Delgada Maritime Police, the entity that took charge of the incident, and the Public Security Police (PSP) at the scene.
Reading of double homicide sentence postponed for the second time.
The reading of the ruling in the case involving a man accused of double homicide, in the Azores, was postponed again today by the Court of São Roque do Pico, which scheduled a new session for Thursday.
The judge who is judging the case, only announced that she had “rejected” the request presented last week by the defence lawyer, in relation to the additional penalty that the court intended to apply to the 61-year-old defendant, accused of having killed two men and burning the bodies next to his residence, in the parish of Candelária, municipality of Madalena do Pico.
The court intended to apply an additional penalty to the suspect and also to his wife, accused of desecrating corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon, of “expulsion from the country”, after serving a prison sentence, a decision that was contested by the suspects’ lawyer .
The reading of the ruling, which was scheduled for last week, was postponed again today for another three days, now so that the court can consider the appeal for rejection.
The defendant in the case, a German national, is suspected of, in September 2022, having killed two men and burning their bodies, when they were visiting some land that they intended to buy, around their house, in Campo Raso, in an area where there are few dwellings.
The detainee, who initially pleaded guilty, later changed his statement, arguing that he had been pressured by the police authorities, now declaring himself innocent of the crimes of qualified homicide, desecration of corpses and possession of a prohibited weapon.
At the time the suspects were arrested, the Judiciary Police announced that “evidence had been collected” that the two missing men had been victims of “murder crimes, with subsequent concealment of the bodies”, with suspicion falling on an individual of foreign nationality, residing in the vicinity of the place where the vehicle used by the victims was parked.
According to that police, during the house searches of the suspect’s residence, “two legal firearms were seized, in addition to several illegally located weapons, namely, a ‘box cutter’ with an attached blade, several daggers and a silencer, compatible with a firearm”.
Preventive arrest for suspect in jewellery theft in São Miguel
A man was held in pre-trial detention on suspicion of stealing watch and jewellery items, valued at more than 10 thousand euros, from a residence in Calhetas, in São Miguel, Azores.
According to the Regional Command of the Public Security Police of the Azores, the 22-year-old suspect was arrested on March 8, after going on the run shortly after the robbery, but several members of the public managed to intercept the man, who ” was later handed over to the PSP”.
The man was accused of the theft of watch and jewellery items, inside a residence, in the parish of Calhetas, in Rabo de Peixe, municipality of Ribeira Grande, on the island of São Miguel, the police reported, revealing that “three watches were recovered and 14 pieces of jewellery (earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces), with a total value of 10,000 euros”.
The same source said that, after being present at the first judicial interrogation, the man saw the most serious measure of coercion applied, preventive detention.