Two killings hours apart
Alexandra Neno was killed on February 29, 2008, in the Real Forte area of Sacavém, in the municipality of Loures. According to the prosecution account later presented in court reporting, Almeida approached her near the residential complex and demanded her phone. The encounter ended in a fatal shooting.
Hours later, after midnight on March 1, Diogo Ferreira and a friend encountered Almeida in the parking area of Oeiras Parque. Prosecutors said Almeida was trying to enter a vehicle when the two men approached the area. Diogo Ferreira was killed; his friend survived.
The prosecution also charged Almeida with an attempted qualified homicide after he fired toward another motorist in the Amoreiras area of Lisbon later that same night. The motorist was not hit. The three episodes became part of the same criminal prosecution years later.
A case without an identified defendant for years
The killings attracted extensive attention, but the identity of the perpetrator was not established publicly in the immediate aftermath. That changed in November 2013, when Paulo Jorge Almeida contacted emergency services and voluntarily surrendered to police, saying he was responsible for the 2008 crimes.
Contemporary reporting on the judicial hearing states that he was then placed in pretrial detention and strongly suspected of two qualified homicides, one attempted qualified homicide, attempted robbery, attempted aggravated theft and illegal weapons possession. At this stage he was an accused person; the surrender and confession did not replace the need for a criminal trial.
The prosecution and trial
The case reached trial in Loures in September 2014. Almeida admitted the acts during the proceedings but disputed that he had set out intending to kill. Reporting on the final arguments recorded his statement that he had left home with a gun intending to take his own life. That assertion was part of his position at trial, not a judicial finding that excused the crimes.
The prosecution sought the maximum prison term permitted under Portuguese law. The court assessed the killings, the attempted homicide and the accompanying property and weapons offenses individually before determining a single aggregate sentence.
The November 2014 judgment
On November 28, 2014, the Tribunal de Comarca Lisboa Norte in Loures convicted Paulo Jorge Almeida. Diário de Notícias reported individual prison terms of 18 years for the homicide of Alexandra Neno, 19 years for the homicide of Diogo Ferreira and six years for the attempted qualified homicide involving the motorist in Lisbon. Additional terms were imposed for robbery, theft and possession of a prohibited weapon.
The arithmetic total of the individual penalties exceeded Portugal's statutory maximum for a single aggregate prison sentence. The court therefore imposed a cumulative term of 25 years in prison. It also ordered substantial civil compensation for relatives of the victims and for Diogo Ferreira's friend.
RTP independently reported the same central outcome: a 25-year maximum sentence following Almeida's conviction for the two killings.
What the court outcome establishes
The important distinction in this case is between the 2013 confession, the 2014 accusation and the 2014 judgment. Almeida was not merely described as a suspect after trial; the Loures court convicted him and imposed the aggregate maximum sentence.
The sources reviewed for this file establish the first-instance conviction and sentence. They do not provide a sufficiently documented later appellate disposition, so this page does not invent or imply a Supreme Court ruling that has not been verified.
Timeline
February 29, 2008: Alexandra Neno is killed in Sacavém, Loures.
March 1, 2008: Diogo Ferreira is killed in the Oeiras Parque parking area; later that night another motorist is shot at but survives.
November 21–22, 2013: Paulo Jorge Almeida voluntarily surrenders, says he is responsible for the crimes and is placed in pretrial detention.
September 2014: the criminal trial begins in Loures.
November 6, 2014: final arguments are heard; the prosecution seeks the maximum sentence.
November 28, 2014: Almeida is convicted and receives an aggregate 25-year prison sentence.
Current status
The murders of Alexandra Neno and Diogo Ferreira are classified here as solved / adjudicated because Paulo Jorge Almeida was convicted in 2014 for both homicides, along with the attempted homicide and other offenses. This file makes no unsupported claim about a later appellate decision beyond the documented trial judgment.
Sources
- Diário de Notícias / Lusa — November 28, 2014: convictions, individual penalties and aggregate 25-year sentence
- RTP — November 28, 2014: maximum sentence after the two murders
- Diário de Notícias / Lusa — April 30, 2014: prosecution chronology and trial scheduling
- RTP / Lusa — November 6, 2014: final arguments and defendant's position at trial