The pair of Portuguese assailants arrested in Spain is the subject of three investigations in Portugal, being suspected of the triple homicide in Bragança and armed robberies in Fundão and Algarve, said a source linked to the process on Thursday.
According to the source, Nélida Guerreiro and Sidney Martins, known as the Portuguese Bonnie & Clyde, are suspects in three homicides in Bragança, which occurred on July 9 and 20.
Sex, drugs, robberies, four murders and the escape from the police. The trail of crimes of the Portuguese Bonnie and Clyde that scares Spain
According to Jornal de Notícias, Sidney Martins took advantage of the absence of Nélida Guerreiro and a mutual friend of the couple, Carlos Pires, to rob the house of the latter’s parentshaving killed the mother and assaulted the father, who was taken to hospital.
After 11 days, Sidney Martins and Nélida Guerreiro, alleged drug addicts, will have defined a strategy to re-enter the stolen house, this time steal drugs to Carlos Pires and money to his father, having culminated the robbery in murder, both murdered with a knife.
The bodies were discovered in the house, after an alert given by neighbors about a house fire, caused by the alleged murderers to cover up the crime.
Sidney Martins and Nélida Guerreiro continue to be charged for the service station robbery on the A23, in Fundão, district of Castelo Branco, the same source confirmed to Lusa, clarifying that in both investigations no accused have yet been constituted.
Questioned by Lusa, the Public Ministry only replied in writing that “investigations were opened in the framework of which events that occurred in Bragança and Fundão were investigated, with a view to determining who was responsible.”
The Portuguese duo is also suspected of several armed robberies at gas stations in the Algarve, from where they went to Spain and committed several other robberies, specifically in Seville, Toledo and Badajoz, using the same modus operandi bullying with a gun and a knife.
After European arrest warrants, issued by the Public Ministry “in the framework of an investigation by the DIAP [Departamento de Investigação e Ação Penal] de Faro”, the two suspects were arrested on Saturday August 13 in Zamora, Spain.
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The suspects were recognized by a popular while eating a hamburger inside the car that they had stolen in Madrid and to which they had already placed a false Portuguese license plate.
After appearing for questioning at the National High Court in Madrid, the Portuguese duo was in preventive detention, by order of Judge Joaquim Gadea, pending the extradition request to Portugal.
Portuguese couple detained in Zamora is in preventive detention in Spain
According to the file, to which Lusa had access, Nélida Alves Guerreiro, 40, declared her opposition to the surrender to the Portuguese authorities, by virtue of the arrest and surrender order presented by Portugal through Interpol. For her part, Sidney Pereira Martins, 42, did not contest the extradition.
Portuguese couple detained in divided Spain: Nélida opposes extradition, Sidney does not
The arrest warrants issued by the Faro Court do not cover the couple’s suspicions of a triple homicide in Braganza —still under investigation by the Portuguese authorities—, limiting themselves solely to the crimes linked to theft in Portugal and Spain.
In this context, the order that refers to Nélida Alves Guerreiro cites more crimes in the European arrest warrant, such as “theft, aggravated coercion, damage, forgery of documents, possession of a prohibited weapon and dangerous driving.” The document on Sidney Pereira Martins only refers to “robbery with intimidation”.
In common, the Madrid magistrate underlined in the proceedings “the absence of reliable and valid justification for the establishment in Spain” of the two Portuguese citizens, considering that this situation represents “a certain risk of evading the action of justice (which must be avoided, in order to ensure the purpose of the execution of the European order)”. In that sense, he understood that all the conditions were met to justify the preventive detention order.
A source from the National High Court also explained to Lusa that the two Portuguese citizens now have a period of five days to file a possible appeal preventive detention ordered by the investigating judge. Joaquín Gadea also ordered the communication of his decision to the Portuguese consulate in the Spanish capital.
Source: Observadora
