The parents and a minor under the age of 16 were arrested in Lisbon on suspicion of committing several crimes of sexual abuse of children and aggravated sexual abuse of a dependent minor or minor in a particularly vulnerable situation.
According to the Judicial Police, which carried out the arrest, through the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Directorate, “within an apparently structured family, numerous sexual crimes occurred over the course of five years”.
“At the time of confinement, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when the girl was just 10 years old, her 14-year-old brother began to subject her to sexual practices, against her will”, says the PJ, according to which these abuses were replicated over time.
At the age of 12, the minor revealed her brother’s abuse to her parents, but, says the PJ, “they resigned themselves to the situation and did not fulfill their legal duty to protect her.”
The attacks would have continued until December 2025, until they were discovered at the school, which reported the suspect directly to the Judiciary Police.
After investigation, the PJ detained the three suspects, having collected evidence of the crimes committed directly by the brother and, indirectly, by the parents.
“The girl grew up in a context of intra-family sexual abuse, suffered in silence and, at 16 years old, has direct consequences in terms of her mental health”, says the PJ.
Detainees will be present for the first judicial interrogation to apply appropriate coercive measures.
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