Polícia Judiciária (PJ) have finally staged a reconstruction of the night of December 15 when six university students lost their lives after being pulled into the sea by a freak wave at Meco beach, near Sesimbra.
The operation, which took place last Friday night, involved 10 PJ inspectors as well as the sole survivor, João Gouveia, who has consistently maintained that the events of that fateful night were nothing but a “terrible accident”.
Since the last body was recovered almost two weeks after the tragedy, the whole affair has been cloaked in mystery. Eye-witness testimonies to bizarre student rituals before the drownings, unexplained text messages as the group set off for Meco beach and the total silence of Gouveia since his friends’ deaths have all combined to fill column inches in newspapers and leave distraught parents and family members full of doubts and suspicions.
As the university held a memorial mass for the dead students last Friday, Correio da Manhã reports that the families have presented criminal complaints against both Gouveia and the Universidade Lusófona through their lawyer Vítor Parente Ribeiro.
“The parents of the six victims believe there was the crime of negligent homicide, and they are suing the survivor and the Lusófona (university),” said the newspaper.
GNR police cordoned off road access to the beach as detectives set about staging last week’s reconstruction.
The next morning, Correio da Manhã photographed seven upright stones placed strategically on the beach, near the shoreline.
Very possibly, the stones were placed as Gouveia explained everyone’s positions on the beach before the wave hit. All that is known for sure is that the reconstruction took a little over two hours and the first vehicle to leave was a black jeep, driving at high speed, and thought to have been transporting Gouveia from the scene.
As the remaining police cars followed, the GNR’s roadblock was lifted and exhausted residents were left once again in relative peace.
Now over two months since the tragedy, the little community of Aiana de Cima – set back from Meco beach – is said to be “tired” of all the media attention. “Every day someone turns up asking questions,” a local told Correio da Manhã. “We just want to be left alone.”
