https://expresso.pt/sociedade/2014-09-09-Por-que-motivo-foi-absolvida-a-inspetora-da-PJ-acusada-de-matar-a-avo-do-marido--1#gs.irSB8vZz09.09.2014 at 20h38
GOOGLE TRANSLATION.
More than 80% of people facing trial are sentenced. Inspector Ana Saltão is one of the exceptions. Even if the court has not been convinced of his innocence.
Rui Gustavo
RUI GUSTAVO
As soon as they found the corpse of Filomena Gonçalves, the inspectors of the homicide brigade of the PJ of Coimbra classified the case as grade 4 - classification given when the suspect is an element of the PJ itself or a prominent public figure. That is, from the first moment that Inspector Ana Saltão is the only suspect to have killed with 14 shots the grandmother of the husband to be able to benefit from a possible inheritance or to not have to pay a loan of 1500 euros.
Ana Saltão was suspected because Filomena Gonçalves, who was 80 years old and some money used for the exploration and sale of a butcher's shop, was killed with 14 bullets compatible with those fired by the PJ's weapons. And 15 days before the homicide, the weapon of service of a colleague of Ana Saltão disappeared of the mobile where it was kept.
Thus, for the PJ, Ana Saltão, who was on sick leave because of an operation and taking antidepressants, stole her colleague's gun and killed her husband's grandmother. The court of Coimbra did not believe this thesis. At least totally.
Psychopath, who?
The killer fired 14 shots. And the deconstruction of the prosecution begins with this fact: according to an expert heard in court, only a psychopath or someone with old problems to deal with the victim could shoot so many shots, already with the dead and prostrate victim on the ground.
For the court, it is obvious that Ana Saltão is not a psychopath because she passed PJ's psycho-technical tests and because she raised money for a colleague who had cancer, she soon worried about others. And since she only married in 2007 and the crime was in November 2012, she could not have old issues with a person she had only recently met and with whom she had a scarce relationship.
Kill for what?
Ana Saltão and her husband, also inspector of the PJ, lived with relative difficulty. The money was bad enough to pay all bills, had debts with credit cards and had to borrow money from the victim: 1500 euros they were paying every month. For the prosecution, Ana Saltão killed not only to not have to pay the debt but also to be able to benefit from an inheritance through the husband. It is not credible for the court to kill someone just for the sake of receiving money (the heirs of the victim were the children, not the grandchild) and the economic situation of the couple was not so serious as to justify such an extreme solution.
Proof contaminated
One of the strongest evidence of the accusation was a coat of Ana Saltão with traces of gunpowder. The garment was handed over to the colleagues on suspicion and was thrown to the floor of a PJ do Porto office, where it was stored before being subjected to analysis. In addition to criticizing this "inexplicable" procedure, the court finds that the coat may have been contaminated.
When it was stopped, Ana Saltão had a wound in the right hand, that used to shoot, and that, according to the PJ, has tried to hide. But the court also does not accept this clue as evidence. An expert said in court that the injury could result from a series of shots, but also from a burn, thus confirming the version of Ana Saltão, who said she had burned herself in the kitchen.
From Maia to Coimbra, two hours away
On the day of the homicide, Ana Salão was at home recovering from a relatively serious operation that prevented her from walking normally. She was spotted by a neighbor after two-thirty in the afternoon to see the mail. He was in his pajamas and his coat. Filomena was killed before five in the afternoon. The court did the math and concluded that between the victim's house in Coimbra and that of the suspect in Maia, it would be more than two hours by car and that it would be very difficult for the defendant to get dressed, to get in the car and cover the distance in such a short time. The neighbor's testimony was not sent by the PJ to the criminal investigation judge who ordered six months of preventive custody for Ana Saltão.
Stolen weapon?
The murder weapon was not found by the PJ, who deduced that it was the 9mm Glock that disappeared from the wardrobe of inspector Liliana Vasconcelos, colleague of Ana Saltão. The gun was in a locked drawer and the court came to the conclusion that, without a key, the furniture could only be opened if it were turned upside down and with a few strokes in the drawer. Something that a person alone could hardly do without help. Soon, the court could not convince herself that it was Ana Saltão who stole the weapon, or that it had actually been stolen and used to kill Filomena Gonçalves.
On the day of the crime, Ana Saltão hung up the phone and, according to the accusation, was not detected in Coimbra. "Would not it have been simpler to keep him at home and not answer the calls?"
With all doubts, it was not enough for the Court to find guilty, but it is also insufficient to declare it innocent. And, in doubt, he acquitted her.
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