Physicist is jailed for trying to kill university lecturer
AN Irish physicist has been sentenced to seven years and seven months behind bars for the attempted homicide of a university lecturer.
Colin Gloster, 37, learnt his fate yesterday at a court in the Portuguese city of Coimbra. He was taken to jail in a police van after being sentenced but is expected to be transferred to a psychiatric unit over the coming weeks.
Gloster, originally from Co. Meath, had denied trying to kill Filomena Figueiredo with a machete at her office in the University of Coimbra on August 4, 2104.
The incident occurred the same day he was told he would not receive a grant as he owed the university more than €5,000 in fees.
Gloster told the court at the start of his trial in January: ‘I aimed the hatchet at one of her arms. I tried to get justice in a country where it doesn’t exist. In an ideal situation, I wouldn’t use the hatchet but reality isn’t ideal. I never tried to kill.’
Insisting his aim to ‘cut an arm’ and he had been the victim of University of Coimbra fraud, he added: ‘I was afraid. I was hungry, I was homeless. I thought if I cut her arm, I could stay alive eating prison food.’
The lecturer’s lawyer Antonio Novais Teixeira told the court during closing speeches that he rejected the Irishman’s claim he had not wanted to kill his victim.
He said: ‘There is no doubt his intention was not only to cut her arm but to kill her as well.’
Psychologist Pedro Alves said the Asperger’s syndrome Mr Gloster had meant he was ‘not conscious of his actions’ even though he was ruled fit to stand trial.
As well as a custodial sentence, Gloster was also ordered to pay his victim €50,000 compensation for her injuries and pick up the €5,500 cost of her hospital treatment.
The wound the lecturer sustained tendons injuries and had surgery.
Gloster first enrolled at Coimbra’s physics department in 2008 and was described as ‘problematic and anti-social’ after the attack.
Speaking after the attack a university spokesman said: ‘Colin Gloster was a PhD student with the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation.
‘The grant was cancelled in January 2014 and the University of Coimbra informed Mr Gloster he was no longer a student of this university, following several episodes of misbehaviour.’
It was not immediately clear yesterday if civil servant’s son Gloster, who attended primary School in Ashbourne, Co. Meath, before going on to study in Dublin, would appeal.