The Public Ministry has finally archived the case of a Brazilian woman killed accidentally in a hail of bullets fired by six agents of Lisbon’s PSP.
This outcome was hinted at last year, when one leader writer wrote a damning text entitled: “Brazilian and poor. She just died” (click here).
Now, the official decision – consigning this desperately sad case to the judicial equivalent of the waste paper basket.
Meantime, the dead woman’s former boyfriend is being charged with six crimes – among them negligent homicide.
His actions – in driving through an Operation Stop – put the police officers involved “in imminent danger to their physical integrity – even their lives”, read the Public Ministry text – and based on the principle of ‘in dubio pro reo’ (in a nutshell: when there’s doubt, absolve) it was impossible to tell which one fired the ‘killer bullet’ that hit 36-year-old Ivanice Carvalho in the neck. Thus, all shooters ‘had to be absolved’ (particularly as they were found to have been acting in legitimate self defence).
Reports this week have been suitably vague on ‘reactions’ from the dead woman’s family, almost all of whom are believed to be living in Brazil.
Her former partner has also not been named. Nor is it clear whether he is even still in Portugal.
His ‘crimes’ came on a night when police were ‘in pursuit’ of a gang that had just robbed an ATM machine. Somewhere on the Segunda Circular road, they mistook the getaway car to the one transporting Ivanice to her early morning job at the airport.
Because her partner had no valid driving licence – and possibly lacked other papers – he panicked and made the fatal decision to try and ‘drive through’ the police ‘blockade’ (click here).
