António Cotrim / Lusa
Entrance to the Supreme Court of Justice
The court found that the abuse of minors to whom the judge paid 25 euros for sexual acts was proven. Most of the victims were institutionalized at Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lagoa.
The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) sentenced the retired judge Manuel Mota Botelhoaged 73, to a sentence of five years in prison, suspended upon execution, for crimes of resort to prostitution of minors. The ruling finds the magistrate guilty of nine crimes, committed against six victims between 2019 and 2023, having been acquitted of seven other crimes that were included in the indictment.
The suspension of the sentence is conditional on compliance with two measures: mandatory attendance of a mental health program aimed at preventing sexual abuse of minors and the payment of compensation totaling 12 thousand euros to three of the victims whose crimes were proven in court.
According to the ruling, read via videoconference due to the illness of the judge-president, it was proven that Manuel Mota Botelho committed the crimes “with full awareness that those offended were minors”. The sexual abuse occurred in a open space in the municipality of Lagoaon the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, as well as in a garage belonging to the defendant’s residence. For each sexual act, the retired judge paid 25 euros.
The advisory judges highlighted that the defendant adopted a seduction strategy based on a “flattering speech”offering rides to victims before the abuse took place. This conduct led the group of judges to characterize Manuel Mota Botelho as someone with “a distorted, poorly formed personality manifested by his way of acting”.
The ruling also highlights that the judge took advantage of the vulnerability of the victims, all of whom institutionalized in Santa Casa of Misericordia da Lagoa. According to the judges, the weak socioeconomic condition of the minors was exploited by the defendant to satisfy his sexual urges. The display of goods considered luxury by the victims led to the conclusion that they resulted from the practice of sexual favors.
In justifying the suspension of the sentence, the group of judges referred to the conviction that Manuel Mota Botelho will not commit crimes of the same nature again, given his advanced age.
