An assistant inspector working for borders control agency SEF has been given a 21-month suspended prison sentence for running over and killing a woman in 2014, and refusing to perform the requisite test for alcohol.
Judges ruled that it was not proved that the man was driving with 4.2 g/l of alcohol in his system (almost eight times the legal limit) as this was the result of a test taken later in hospital.
The court however ordered José Baptista to pay the children of his victim €75,000 in compensation, and banned him from driving for a period of 24 months.
Baptista will also be obliged to complete a road safety awareness programme.
Baptista’s defence lawyer Rodrigo Santiago told reporters that in his opinion the decision taken by Coimbra court was “manifestly just”.
