Man arrested in Guarda for raping woman he met through mutual friend in Sintra, placed in preventive detention
A 32-year-old man was arrested in the Guarda district and placed in preventive detention for the rape of a 49-year-old woman in Sintra in March 2025. The suspect had asked to stay at her home under the pretext of needing to regularize travel documents.
The crime
In late March 2025, a 32-year-old man asked a 49-year-old woman, whom he had met through a mutual friend, to stay at her home in Sintra for three nights. He claimed he needed to regularize travel documents for a planned trip to his home country. The victim agreed.
On the night of 30 March 2025, the man raped the woman using physical force. When the victim resisted and called for help, her 21-year-old daughter intervened. The suspect assaulted the daughter before fleeing to an unknown location.
On the night of 30 March, the man consummated the rape, resorting to physical force. Faced with the victim's resistance and calls for help, her 21-year-old daughter came to her aid, but was assaulted by the suspect, who then fled to an unknown location.
The arrest
After more than a year of investigation, the Polícia Judiciária (PJ) located the suspect in the Guarda district. He was detained under an out-of-flagrante delicto arrest warrant, in an operation by the PJ's Lisbon and Tagus Valley Directorate. Both the suspect and the victim are foreign nationals.
Legal proceedings
The detainee was brought before the Sintra Criminal Instruction Court for a first judicial interrogation. The court imposed the coercive measure of preventive detention. The PJ confirmed the arrest and the court's decision in a statement released on 9 July 2026.
