A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 23 years in prison by the Matosinhos Court for the fatal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend and the attempted murder of a man she was with, in a case that underscores the persistent crisis of intimate partner violence across the country. The ruling, delivered on May 15, 2026, marks one of the latest convictions in a year when feminicide cases have shown no signs of decline nationwide.
Why This Matters
The financial and legal consequences of this verdict extend beyond the convict himself. The court ordered him to pay €5,000 to the victim's father and €20,000 to the surviving victim, setting a meaningful financial precedent for civil damages in femicide cases. After serving his sentence, he will face expulsion from Portugal for five years, a penalty signaling stricter enforcement of deportation measures in violent crimes.
Critically, the ruling reaffirms that ciúmes (jealousy) alone does not mitigate criminal responsibility or reduce sentencing severity in Portuguese courts—a principle that legal experts have long advocated for. The case also reflects a broader national crisis: Portugal recorded at least 21 feminicides by mid-November 2025, with 16 occurring in intimate relationships, underscoring that this conviction is not an anomaly but part of a troubling pattern.
The Crime and Flight
On August 4, 2025, David Marinho entered his ex-girlfriend's residence in São Mamede de Infesta, a residential area of Matosinhos, without permission. According to court testimony, he remained hidden inside the home for approximately 20 minutes, observing his former partner with another man. During this time, he filmed the couple on his mobile device before retrieving two kitchen knives and launching a violent attack.
The victim was stabbed 21 times, sustaining fatal injuries across multiple areas of her body. The male companion, also attacked, managed to escape and survived his wounds. The presiding judge emphasized that the number of stab wounds, the targeted body zones, and the timing of the assault left no doubt that Marinho intended to kill both individuals. "The victim had no opportunity to flee or defend herself," the magistrate noted during the sentencing hearing.
Immediately after the attack, Marinho fled in the victim's car, driving south to Lisbon Airport with the apparent intention of boarding a flight to Brazil. He was apprehended by Portugal Airport Security Police (PSP) before departure, thwarting his attempt to evade national jurisdiction.
Judicial Reasoning and Sentencing Framework
The Matosinhos Court found that while the attack was not premeditated—Marinho had not planned the method or timing in advance—he had ample time to reflect on his actions during the 20 minutes he spent inside the residence before retrieving the knives. This deliberation period was critical in the court's assessment of intent and culpability.
The presiding judge characterized the defendant's behavior as demonstrating "manifest insensitivity, driven by jealousy and romantic rejection." He also noted Marinho's "total indifference to the victim's pleas" during the assault, a detail that weighed heavily in the severity of the sentence. Under Portuguese Penal Code Article 132, the crime was classified as qualified homicide, which carries stiffer penalties than simple homicide due to aggravating circumstances such as cruelty and relationship context.
Marinho was also convicted of attempted homicide for the attack on the male companion. The court determined that the only reason the second victim survived was due to circumstances beyond the defendant's control—specifically, the man's ability to flee.
What This Means for Residents
This case is part of a troubling pattern in Portugal, where intimate partner violence remains a leading cause of death among women. According to preliminary data from the Observatory of Murdered Women (OMA), a project of the Portuguese Union for Alternative and Response to Women (UMAR), at least 21 feminicides were recorded through mid-November 2025, the vast majority occurring within current or former intimate relationships. An additional 40 attempted feminicides were documented in the same period.
The numbers reflect a stagnation rather than improvement in domestic violence outcomes, despite legislative advances. In 2024, convictions for spousal homicide increased 62.5% compared to the previous year, yet only 13% of domestic violence complaints resulted in convictions, indicating systemic challenges in evidence collection, victim support, and judicial follow-through.
Legal experts and victim advocacy groups have long argued that jealousy-driven violence should not be treated as a mitigating factor. The Portugal Court of Appeal (Porto) ruled in 2011 that jealousy reflects "excessive self-interest and disregard for another's freedom," and thus does not qualify for reduced sentencing under the "privileged homicide" classification, which applies when a crime is committed under "comprehensible violent emotion." The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) has similarly held that jealousy, by itself, does not constitute a "base or futile motive" that would automatically qualify a homicide as aggravated, but courts have increasingly rejected its use as a defense.
Expanding Legal Protections and Support Mechanisms
Portugal's government has committed to the largest-ever budget increase for domestic violence prevention and victim support: €5.3M allocated in the 2026 State Budget. This funding will expand psychological support services, victim assistance offices (GAV), and a new 24/7 multilingual national hotline, set to launch in September 2026.
Other recent measures include:
• Enhanced risk assessment tools that now cover elderly victims, children, and youth, operational since July 2025.
• Digitized compensation requests via a dedicated platform, streamlining the process for victims seeking financial redress.
• Legislative reforms to strengthen the evidentiary value of victim and witness statements taken immediately after an incident, reducing case dismissals due to lack of proof.
• Expansion of victim support offices: two new GAV locations opened in 2025 (Seixal and Porto), with three more planned for 2026 (Matosinhos, Santarém, and the Azores).
• A reactivated task force focusing on the critical first 72 hours after a domestic violence report, when intervention is most effective.
The Portugal Ministry of Justice has also introduced a retrospective analysis protocol for homicides in domestic violence contexts (Ordinance No. 124/2026/1), enabling systematic review of cases to identify procedural gaps and improve prevention.
Addressing the Root Causes
While the legal architecture is evolving, the persistence of feminicide points to deeper cultural and structural issues. Nearly half of Portuguese women (46.8%) have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime, and 22.5% have endured violence within intimate relationships, according to national surveys.
Feminist advocacy groups have called for a fundamental shift in social attitudes toward jealousy and possessiveness, which are still often romanticized in popular culture. The Women's Alternative and Response Union (UMAR) has argued that women in Portugal remain unsafe in both public and private spaces, and that prevention efforts must extend beyond policing to education, media representation, and community accountability.
The Portugal Prison Service has expanded participation in aggressor rehabilitation programs, and a new Academy for Studies and Training on Domestic Violence is being established with funding from EEA Grants to train law enforcement, prison staff, and magistrates. A research project on recidivism among domestic violence offenders is also underway to inform evidence-based policy.
The Human Cost
During sentencing, the presiding judge addressed the 25-year-old convict directly, reminding him of the unconditional value of human life and personal autonomy. "You are very young, but you have decisively conditioned your own life," he stated. "I hope you spend these years reflecting that there are things in life that are unconditional, and those are people's lives themselves."
The victim's father will receive €5,000 in civil damages, and the male survivor €20,000—compensation that, while symbolic, reflects judicial recognition of the trauma inflicted. Both amounts are substantial in the Portuguese context, where median monthly income hovers around €1,200.
The sentence, combined with the five-year expulsion order, sends a clear message: Portuguese courts are tightening consequences for intimate partner violence, and foreign nationals convicted of such crimes will face additional penalties. Whether these measures translate into tangible reductions in violence remains to be seen, but the legal and institutional framework is evolving rapidly in response to sustained public pressure and tragic case after tragic case.
