Man convicted of slaying 4 kin in Spain
MADRID — A jury in Spain found a Brazilian man guilty of killing his aunt, uncle and two young cousins and ruled unanimously that the slayings were premeditated, a Spanish news agency reported.
The jury at the trial in Guadalajara, near Madrid, was not convinced Saturday by Patrick Nogueira’s defense that he had stabbed his relatives because he was mentally disturbed and suffers from alcoholism, the private news agency Europa Press reported.
Nogueira’s aunt and uncle were in their early 40s and his cousins were 1 and 4 years old at the time of the 2016 slayings. He was 19.
A witness testified that Nogueira took a selfie with the dismembered bodies, which he had chopped up and put into plastic garbage bags.
Prosecutors said Nogueira was a psychopath who planned the slayings, even taking garbage bags with him. They said the defendant, who arrived in Spain in early 2016, sent a different friend in Brazil a series of WhatsApp messages about the murders and photos of the victims during and after the killings.
To conceal the crime, prosecutors said Nogueira chopped up his aunt and uncle with tree-pruning shears. About a month after the slayings, neighbors complained of a bad smell coming from the house and authorities found the bags with the bodies inside.
Nogueira faces decades behind bars. His lawyer said the verdict will be appealed.
The case captured wide attention in Spain and Brazil.