Requested conviction of defendants who kidnapped man in a neighborhood of Braga

The Public Ministry asked, on Saturday, the collective of judges of the Court of Braga that judged two men for theft, kidnapping and illegal possession of a weapon to apply prison sentences of five and four years to them.

The magistrate, who did not indicate whether she understood that the sentences should or should not be suspended, gave the crimes as proven, considering the documentary and testimonial evidence produced at trial to be sufficient.

The defense lawyers, Pedro Miguel Carvalho and Francisco Peixoto, requested acquittal, saying that the accusation and the contradictory testimony of the victim showed that nothing was proven and that the accusation “is a fabrication”. They also recalled that a PJ/Braga agent said, as a witness, that the victim, when he gave statements at the inquiry, “had to be called to earth, such were the contradictions in which he fell”.

The two defendants, Jaime Montolha and Rodrigo Silva, argued that the victim invented the kidnapping to “hide that she was a regular drug user”.

The prosecution said that the victim went to buy drugs to smoke a joint in the Bairro Social de Santa Tecla and ended up being robbed and kidnapped by the two defendants.

The case took place in January 2020. The consumer, named José Manuel, asked a friend to indicate a place to buy hashish. He went to the ground floor of Block 3 do Bairro and went inside. He made the transaction, when ready to pay, he showed a wad of bills, 700 euros in all. There, says the Public Ministry, Jaime took a shotgun with two barrels and pointed it at him, saying “I’m getting silly!”. To which the threatened man replied: “Take it off, brother!”, A request that had no effect, since the two demanded that he hand over the money.

Then, they took his wallet and an ATM card, forcing him to reveal the access pin. Rodrigo then went to a bank teller at a gas station in the area, withdrew 100 euros and even tried to withdraw another 20, but the account had no balance. He then went into the convenience store and made purchases for 7.35 euros.

José Manuel was kidnapped in the apartment, under threat of a hammer and a knife. The duo even tried to withdraw another ATM card from him, but this one also had no balance. More than 24 hours later, around 4 am, the victim managed to escape, having concluded that the two were distracted in another room.

A PSP raid followed, which, in addition to the shotgun, seized a modified pistol.