Two local youths, each with a criminal record of causing bodily harm to an underage female, were arrested at the Public Prosecutions Office in Zape on Tuesday (January 30) for threatening the local victim in order to force her to withdraw her previous statement on the case, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Leng Kam Lon said at a regular press conference on Friday.
According to Leng, the two male suspects, surnamed Wong and Lo, are aged 19 and 20 respectively. The duo are habitual offenders of bullying, causing bodily harm and intimidation, Leng added.
The victim told the Public Security Police (PSP) in August last year that she had been beaten by the two suspects, and wanted to pursue legal action against them, Leng noted.
The Judiciary Police, Leng said, received a report from the victim at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday, saying that on leaving her friend’s home in Areia Preta district after a late-night party on January 28, she was stopped and intimidated by the two suspects who told her to withdraw last August’s statement on the case and to pay them 30,000 patacas in “compensation”, as otherwise they would “pick her up” after school every day.
Leng added that at the suggestion of her school’s social worker, the victim, accompanied by the social worker and a family member, reported the case to the Judiciary Police on Tuesday.
On the day of receiving the report, PJ officers were dispatched to arrest the two suspects who were at the nearby Public Prosecutions Office in relation to other cases, Leng said, adding that under questioning, the duo refused to cooperate with the police, only admitting to having told the victim not to pursue legal action against them.
The two suspects have been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office, facing extortion and intimation charges.
