Portimão criminal court judges have handed down sentences of 20 and 18 years to the murderers of Álvaro Paderna in Guia last year.A 21-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man have been found guilty of murder and theft on the night of February 6th, 2017, in Guia, Albufeira.
The court "proved that the two defendants broke into the victim's house, an 85-year-old man with whom the female defendant had known for several years, and assaulted him, tying his hands and feet and strangling him to death."
They left, taking with valuables belonging to the victim, including money, that they later divided up.
Álvaro Paderna's body was discovered the next morning. Relatives had been concerned that the old boy hadn’t been seen at the Thursday fruit and veg market, so his grand-daughter’s husband went into the house and made the gruesome discovery.
The police and an ambulance team raced to the scene and it was clear that the 84-year-old not only was dead, but that he had been brutalised. The granddaughter and her husband, who live in an adjoining property, saw that her grandfather's accommodation had been ransacked.
Days later, a 51-year-old man and 19-year-old girl, both Brazilian, were arrested on suspicion of the murder of the 85-year-old pensioner. The girl, known to have asked for money from Paderna on more than one occasion, was known to be a drug addict.
Police questioned neighbours and it soon became clear that Paderna, who retired back to Portugal after working in France, was known to have money in the house and that he would have been seen an easy victim by the girl and her accomplice.
Álvaro Paderna's property in Guia
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