Lovers 'inspired by TV show' before man's murder
WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: Two lovers reportedly inspired by the hit crime drama 'Dexter' have been jailed for suffocating and dismembering a young man in Portugal.
The court in the municipality of Portimao in Portugal's Algarve Region sentenced Maria Malveiro to 25 years in jail on April 27 for murdering Diogo Goncalves, 21, in March last year.
The 20-year-old female security guard was also ordered to pay $413,470 in compensation to the victim's father.
The same court cleared Malveiro's accomplice, 24-year-old nurse Mariana Fonseca, of murder, handing her a four-year suspended sentence for desecrating his corpse, as well as for theft and fraud.
She was also ordered to pay $545 to the victim's father.
The pair, on trial in what local media has dubbed the "Dexter case", knew that the victim had received $109,000 in compensation for his mother's death in a hit and run in 2016.
They had originally planned to drug the young man and steal his inheritance, taking advantage of his alleged crush on Malveiro to ensnare him.
They were reportedly inspired by the hit TV series Dexter, whose main protagonist is a serial killer who dismembers his victims' bodies in order to dispose of them more discreetly, according to local media outlets including Expresso, Correio da Manha and Jornal de Noticias.
The security guard went to his house, with the nurse Fonseca who had supplied the drugs, waiting outside in her car.
Malveiro drugged Goncalves, tied him to a chair, and put him into a rear choke hold until he passed out.
Fonseca then came in and revived the young man. However, when he came to, a struggle ensued, with Malveiro strangling him once again, this time until he was dead.
The pair loaded Goncalves' dead body into the car and took it away with them, later dismembering it with a meat cleaver stolen from a supermarket.
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They subsequently disposed of the young man's severed body parts across the Algarve while using his bank card and mobile phone to make payments and withdrawals.
Despite the Public Prosecution Service calling for a minimum-20-year sentence for each participant, the court seemed to accept Fonseca's explanation that she acted out of "love" for her co-defendant.
The court believed she was "influenced" by the security guard, and was also swayed by the fact she revived Goncalves, even though it was short-lived.
The period for appeal is underway, and Malveiro remains in detention while Fonseca remains in freedom.
Australscope
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