The defendants, a nurse and a security guard, are accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of the crimes of qualified homicide, desecration of a human corpse, two crimes of illegitimate access, one of computer fraud, simple theft and use of a vehicle.

According to the indictment, the women attracted Diogo Gonçalves, 21, to the home of one of them, where they kept him captive in order to extort money from him, since he had received €70,000 in compensation following the death of his mother, who had been the victim of a hit run in the Albufeira area in 2016.

According to the MP, the defendants, Mariana Fonseca, 24, a nurse, and Maria Malveiro, 21, a security guard, “went to the victim's house, a computer engineer, located in the Silves area, where they drugged him to render him unconscious before then strangling him to death”.

After having removed several valuables, including his mobile phone, from his home, they took him “in his own car to the defendants' house, located in the Lagos area”.

On 21 March, the suspects allegedly dismembered “the victim's corpse”, storing it “in several rubbish bags”, which in the following days “were then thrown off a cliff, in Sagres and hidden in vegetation, in Tavira”.

On 27 March, parts of the young man's body were found in the Pego do Inferno area, in Tavira, and near the Fortaleza do Beliche, in Sagres. A few days later, on 2 April, the Judiciary Police arrested the two women.

The MP indicated that, during those days, the defendants made withdrawals and payments with the debit card and the victim's mobile phone.

The nurse's defense lawyer asked for the case to be opened, considering that the nurse had not participated in all phases of the crime.

However, the investigating judge decided to bring the case to trial "as it was, considering that the defendant's first testimony was more consistent" the lawyer told Lusa at the time.

The trial is scheduled to start at 9:15 am in the Court of Portimão, in the district of Faro.