Within hours of the brutal murder of an 83-year-old Albufeira pensioner, police had arrested the elderly man’s 19-year-old ‘girlfriend’ and a 51-year-old Brazilian man.
According to reports, the pair are “suspected” of murder, though autopsy reports will have to reveal exactly how Álvaro Paderna met his death.
Says CMTV, aside from being tied by his hands and feet, and having blood in and around his mouth, there were few signs of aggression.
But TVI had a different story, suggesting the duo tied Paderna to a chair and basically attacked him until he revealed where he had his money hidden.
TVI claims the 19-year-old is a drug addict, and that at least €5,000 was missing from the house.
Paderna’s body was found early last Thursday morning by his granddaughter’s husband (click here).
While relatives, friends and neighbours attested on television to the fact that Paderna had no enemies, away from the cameras they told police of their suspicions about his much younger girlfriend, who “occasionally asked for money”.
The victim was seen as a “man of means”, as along with his pension from a lifetime working in France, he continued to bring in money by selling fruit and vegetables at Albufeira’s farmers market on Thursday and Saturdays.
Alerted to the identity of the girlfriend, police are believed to have first spoken to her on Thursday, arresting her and the Brazilian on Friday.
The pair have since appeared before magistrates and been remanded in preventive custody.
