Court sentences policeman who shot dead Cape Verdean chef, Odair Moniz

This afternoon, the verdict in the case of the death of Odair Moniz will be delivered, marking the conclusion of the trial at the Sintra Court.

Moniz was fatally shot during a police operation in the Cova da Moura neighborhood, in Amadora, in the early hours of October 21, 2024, which left multiple unanswered questions.

The trial began in October last year and received extensive media coverage.

Among defendants and witnesses who testified were the PSP agent who killed Moniz, Bruno Pinto, his colleague Rui Machado, as well as other PSP officers.

Residents who witnessed and filmed the course of the police operation also testified.

Accounts of what happened that night were often contradictory.

On May 18 this year, during closing arguments, public prosecutor Pedro Pereira argued that Bruno Pinto should be convicted of homicide, although he did not propose a specific sentence.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office also argued that Pinto — who had been serving with the PSP since 2022 — should receive the additional penalty of being barred from exercising public functions, which in practice would mean expulsion from the police force.

The prosecutor emphasised that the main evidence gathered during the investigation consisted of CCTV footage from the street where the operation took place and cellphone videos recorded by residents who witnessed the events that night. He added that it should be considered unproven that Odair Moniz had brandished a bladed weapon (as the original PSP press statement claimed) or that he attempted to attack the officer with a knife during the police pursuit.

The footage shows that Odair resisted being handcuffed and struck the officers attempting to arrest him, but the prosecution argued that despite this aggressive behavior, the case did not amount to one of extreme violence.

José Semedo, the lawyer representing Moniz’s family, recalled during the same court session in May that eyewitness testimony consistently indicated that the victim was unarmed and that no witness saw any weapon near Odair Moniz’s body. They only saw his bags, with some witnesses adding that the knife was only seen after the cook’s body had been lifted from the ground.

The victim’s family’s legal team agrees with the prosecution that Bruno Pinto should be convicted of homicide, aggravated by direct intent.

Ricardo Serrano Vieira, Bruno Pinto’s lawyer, has requested his client’s acquittal. “The witnesses lied in court, contradicting the video footage,” he said. He argued that the prosecution “forgot” to mention that Odair had driven dangerously fast through the neighborhood or that he had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit and indications of cannabis in his bloodstream. Serrano Vieira suggested that Odair’s apparent confidence during the escape stemmed from his extensive criminal record and numerous previous interactions with law enforcement. According to the defence, Moniz fled “to a safe place” (Cova da Moura) because he knew he would find informal support there from people who were “standing around with their hands in their pockets at 4am.”

Serrano Vieira’s contention is that the prosecution has simplified the issue of the knife, when there are grounds to recognise self-defence on the part of his client.

Odair Moniz’s killing sparked a wave of riots in various parts of Lisbon, receiving a lot of international press coverage.

Source: Expresso

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.