The horrific episode six months ago when a man threw a terrified nine-year-old boy over a second floor balcony has finally received some form of closure.
Prosecutors have considered the 40-year-old “unchargeable” due to serious psychological problems.
But as his issues mean that he could “repeat similar acts”, the man is being referred to a psychiatric unit.
The short news item delivered by tabloid Correio da Manhã gives no details as to how long the man could be interned, nor whether this is a form a ‘life sentence’ due to his psychosis.
Certainly the community he terrorised in February this year vowed he would be “lynched” if he returned to live among them (click here).
The horror was splashed over national media after the man attacked the boy’s mother “out of nowhere” in the neighbourhood of Chelas, Lisbon.
The woman’s nine-year-old son ran to her aid and was scooped up by the man and “callously” thrown over the side of the building.
The child only escaped death by hitting a railing before falling onto a ramp.
He nonetheless suffered serious injuries to his legs and hips, and was described in hospital after the incident as in a “grave condition”.
There is no news today on the child’s recovery – simply that his attacker, held in police custody since the horror, will now be referred to a psychiatric unit “adequate to his treatment”.
