38-year-old is 22nd victim of domestic violence this year in Portugal
The nation’s struggle against rising crime and incidents of domestic violence came into sharp focus again this week with the horrific murder of a 38-year-old woman in front of numerous witnesses in the centre of Odivelas (near Lisbon).
Cleidisalete Silva was in a heated discussion with her live-in partner Carlos Pinheiro, when the latter allegedly broke the wine bottle he was holding on the ground, using the jagged edges to stab her violently in the neck.
The scene was caught on the cameras of witnesses and has been splashed in lurid detail over this morning’s tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Carlos Pinheiro remains remanded in police custody while an investigation by PJ judicial police moves forwards – but this has been a truly abysmal week for domestic violence in Portugal: no less than three people have died in the last few days – two women at the hands of their partners, and one man allegedly stabbed by his 18-year-old nephew.
Says CM, Cleidisalete Silva was the 22nd victim of domestic violence so far this year in Portugal – which already translates into 18 more victims than in the whole of 2021 (and there are still three months of this year left to go).
A dismal round-up by the paper shows that two women were executed by their partners (or ex-partners) in January, two in February, three in March (when a 4th victim, a three-year-old, was killed by her own mother), one in April, one in May, five in June (with two others killed by other family members), two in August, and three in the last few days between September 13 and 18.
According to the paper, although this latest killing went ahead in front of numerous witnesses, none of them “could do anything” to intervene.
