A 31-YEAR-old musician has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by Portimão Court for strangling his 27-year-old girlfriend to death last December.
Sérgio Roberto Cerejo was condemned on Monday for the plain murder of Ana Isabel Gonçalves on December 13, 2006, instead of premeditated murder for which he was charged.
judge Manuel Sequeira said: “The court is convinced about two things; that you wanted to kill Ana Isabel and that you knew what you were doing.”
Premeditation unproven
The court, however, did not consider the premeditation of the murder proven or any form of perverse behaviour to increase the suffering of the victim.
After strangling his girlfriend, Sérgio Cerejo told the court that he went to the PSP police station in Portimão to get help, saying that Ana Isabel’s death was an accident, however, the court did not accept this explanation.
As well as the prison sentence, Sérgio Cerejo was also ordered to pay 67,850 euros compensation to the family of the victim.
Mafalda Gouveia, the victim’s sister, told waiting press after the trial that she was unsatisfied with the sentence. “Justice was not done; he deserved a much heavier penalty because he led my sister to his apartment with the intention of killing her”.
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