Carloto Cotta was accused of 9 crimes by the Public Ministry.
The Sintra Court considered that the accusations of assault, kidnapping and rape made by the actor’s assistant had not been proven.
According to the report, actor Carloto Cotta went this Monday acquitted of all crimes of which he was accused, including kidnapping, rape, sexual coercion, aggravated threat and harm to physical integrity. The decision was handed down by the Sintra Court.
When reading the sentence, the judge began by highlighting the facts that the court considered proven. According to the summary read at the hearing, the defendant and the assistant met at Cascais Shopping and maintained regular message exchanges through social networks. On May 3, the actor invited his wife to meet at his home, in Colares, an invitation she accepted. Upon arrival, they both went inside the house, the door of which was locked, a decision that the defendant justified for safety reasons related to the dogs. The two consumed gin and became sexually involved.
The court also noted that the assistant, who has been on sick leave since the episode, has always been described as an honest person by family and friends. In turn, the defendant, a well-known film and television figure with no criminal record, exchanged messages with the assistant where she demonstrated enthusiasm and insistence on finding it. For the judge, the conversations between them indicated that the meeting had a sexual nature anticipated by both parties.
However, the credibility of the assistant’s testimony was questioned by the court. The judge stressed that she presented “multiple versions”, different in the statements made to the GNR, the Judiciary Police and later in court, in addition to having denied in the hearing the contents of messages that, according to the process, would reveal desire to be with the defendant. Given these contradictions, the court concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to support the crimes alleged against the actor.
Thus, Carloto Cotta was absolved of all crimes, while the assistant was ordered to pay civil costs regarding compensation claims.
