Sidney Martins, of the pair of robbers detained in Spain, extradited to Portugal | Crime
This Monday, the Spanish authorities handed over to the Judiciary Police (PJ) the Portuguese citizen, Sidney Martins, the subject of a European arrest warrant on which there are suspicions of several homicides and armed robberies, the PJ said in a statement.
“Today, on land, was delivered to the Judiciary Police, under the Judiciary Prosecutor, by the Spanish authorities, no compliance with the European Arrest Warrant, Fronteiriça de Faro, a 42-year-old man, indicated by the practice of several years of robberies to the armed forces, which took place in July, in the Algarve region”, reads a note published this Monday on the PJ’s official page. According to the same note, “the detainee will be presented to the national judicial authorities, in the district of Faro, within the legally established deadlines”.
Sidney Martins is one of the elements of the Portuguese assailant couple, arrested in Spain, on August 13, in the city of Zamora. The 42-year-old man and his partner Nélida Guerreiro, 40, known as the Portuguese “Bonnie & Clyde”, are being investigated in Portugal, being suspected of a triple homicide in Bragança and armed robberies in Fundão and Algarve, in addition to of robberies they are suspected of committing in Spain.
The couple of Portuguese robbers are the subject of three investigations in Portugal, being suspected of a triple homicide in Bragança and armed robbery in Fundão and Algarve, according to a source linked to the case told Lusa. The murders in Bragança took place on 9 July and 20 July.
according to Newspaper, Sidney Martins took advantage of the absence of Nélida Guerreiro and a mutual friend of the couple, Carlos Pires, to rob the house of the latter’s parents, killing the mother and assaulting the father, who was transported to the hospital. After 11 days, Sidney Martins and Nélida Guer, allegedly drug addicts, will have defined a strategy to re-enter the burglarized house, this time to steal drugs from Carlos Pires and money from his father, culminating in murder, murders with a both facade. The bodies were discovered in the house, following an alert given by neighbors regarding a house fire, caused by the alleged murderers to cover up the crime.
Sidney Martins and Nélida Guerreiro, still indicted for the assault on a service station on the A23, in Fundão, Castelo Branco district, confirmed the same source to Lusa, confirming that in both investigations no defendants have yet been constituted. Questioned by Lusa, the Public Prosecutor’s Office replied in writing that “there were inquiries within the scope of which facts established in Bragança and Fundão are investigated, with a view to determining only the authorship of the same”.
The Portuguese duo may also suspect several armed robberies in petrol stations in the Algarve, from where they went to Spain and committed several other robberies, namely in Seville, Toledo and Badajoz, using the same operation mode of intimidation with firearm and a facade. Following arrest warrants, not disclosed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, scope of investigation to be carried out in the DIAP [Departamento de Investigação e Acção Penal] de Faro”, the two suspects were arrested on Saturday, August 13, in Zamora, Spain.
The suspects were recognized by a popular person as they ate one inside the car they had stolen in Madrid and not which they had already placed a false Portuguese license plate.
After being presented for questioning at the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid, the Portuguese duo was in preventive detention, by order of judge Joaquim Gadea, will exist for deciding the extradition request to Portugal. According to the file, to which Lusa had access, Nélida Alves Guerreiro, 40, declared her opposition to the surrender to the Portuguese authorities, under the arrest warrant and presented by Portugal through Interpol. On the other hand, Sidney Pereira Martins, 42, did not contest the extradition.
The arrest warrants released by the Court of Faro do not cover the suspected connection of a triple investigation in Bragança — still by the Portuguese authorities —, being limited only to crimes linked to robberies in Portugal and Spain. In this context, the order referring to Nélida Alves Guerreiro cites more crimes in the European arrest and surrender warrant, such as “theft, aggravated duress, forgery of documents, possession of a prohibited weapon and dangerous driving”. The document on Sidney Pereira Martins only makes reference to “theft with intimidation”.
In common, the Madrid magistrate underlined in the orders “the absence of reliable and valid justification for their roots in Spain” of the two Portuguese citizens, considering that this situation represents “a certain risk of evasion from the action of justice (which must be avoided, as in order to guarantee the purpose of the European’s execution.” In this sense, it is understood that all the conditions to justify the preventive detention order are met.
Source of the National Audience also explained to Lusa that the two Portuguese citizens had, from the data of the decision, a period of five days to present a possible appeal for preventive detention decreed by the instruction. Joaquin Gadea also decided to communicate his decision to the Portuguese consulate in the Spanish capital.