Virgílio Mendonça, a 39-year-old Cape Verdean immigrant was arrested by the Portuguese police after being caught raping a 7-year-old girl in the southern city of Seixal, in Lisbon outskirts.
The suspect was already referenced as a sexual predator and was known for his violent instincts. Previously, he has attacked a child in the same park where he kidnapped and raped the 7-year-old girl. He took the girl into an abandoned house, not very far away from where he kidnapped her. After leaving the child alone in the place where he raped her, the man was caught by the victim’s father, taking a severe beating. The child was then immediately taken to the hospital, and later reunited with her family.
After 50 hours on the run, the Cape Verdian was finally caught and taken to the local police station. He was later moved to the Portuguese capital Lisbon, where he is now being held in custody and awaiting for his trial, to the resistance of the local people who angrily directed threats and insults towards him, even trying to block the police, which saved the rapist from being lynched.
The town’s population says that now they feel safer after he was arrested, but also fear he might be released after being heard by the judge.
