Seven convicted of child-sex abuse in homes run by Portuguese state

Seven people were convicted of child-sex abuse in Portugal yesterday in a major trial that lasted almost six years.

• Carlos Cruz, a TV presenter, arrives for the verdict. Pic: AFP/Getty

The six men and one woman were found guilty of sexually abusing minors and adolescents, raping children and running a paedophile ring at a state-run children's home in Lisbon during the 1990s.

The trial, believed to be Portugal's longest, included testimony from more than 800 witnesses and experts, including 32 alleged victims.

The abuse centred on Casa Pia, a 230-year-old institution caring for some 4,500 needy children, most of them living in dormitories at its premises around the capital. The defendants included a national television celebrity and a retired ambassador in a case that shook public trust in Portugal's institutions when the allegations first emerged in 2002.

The protracted trial has also fuelled outrage about Portugal's notoriously slow legal system.

Ana Peres, the lead judge in a three-judge panel, read a summarised version of the court's decisions, some of which was televised. The full document reportedly stretches to almost 2,000 pages.

The victims - now aged between 16 and 22 - gave chilling testimony during the trial and identified their alleged abusers by pointing to them across the courtroom.

Casa Pia "shared some of the blame" for the crimes because it failed to detect them, Ms Peres told the small courtroom where a few members of the public were present.

Alvaro Carvalho, a psychiatrist who has counselled the victims and was in court with them, said they were nervous as they awaited the verdict.

"They calmed down when the judge ruled that the crimes were proven," Mr Carvalho said. "In a way, it's society making reparation for what happened to them."

A whistleblower broke the scandal in 2002, followed by a year-long police investigation.

A 53-year-old former driver at the Casa Pia, Carlos Silvino, confessed to more than 600 crimes and incriminated the other defendants.

They included Carlos Cruz, a TV presenter with a three-decade career in showbusiness, and Jorge Ritto, a decorated career diplomat and former Unesco ambassador.

Three other men were also convicted of child sex abuse, including a doctor and a former Casa Pia ombudsman. A 68-year-old woman, Gertrudes Nunes, was found guilty of hosting meetings between the children and their alleged abusers.

The six denied all of the charges and said their lives have been ruined by the allegations.

The former ombudsman, Manuel Abrantes, said the allegations had wrecked his career and family life.

"My life was destroyed overnight," he claimed.