Kidnappers confess to murder of Portuguese Woman

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Kidnappers confess to murder of Portuguese Woman

9:05 CAT | 04 Jan 2018

In file CoM

The Mozambican police have arrested three suspects in the murder on Thursday, December 28 of a Portuguese business woman in the central city of Beira, according to a report on the independent television station STV.

The victim, 28 year old Ines Bota, was the financial director of Ferpinta, a Beira company that makes steel tubes. Bota was abducted, robbed, tied hand and foot and thrown into the Pungue river, where she drowned. The fire brigade found her body on Saturday morning.

The three suspects included her physical trainer: the fact that she knew him may explain why she gave him and his two accomplices a lift in her car on Thursday night.

The three men have confessed to the crime, and told the police their intention was to steal the victim’s money. According to Sofala provincial police spokesperson Daniel Macucua, once inside the vehicle they produced a gun and threatened her. Bota did not know that the weapon was in fact a toy pistol.

They demanded Bota’s bank cards, and then drove to cash machines, where they forced Bota to withdraw 29,000 meticais (about 496 US dollars), which the three divided among themselves.

Two hours after the kidnapping the gang drove to the Embaixador Hotel in central Beira, where they abandoned Bota’s car, and picked up a Nissan belonging to one of the kidnappers. They then drove for about 70 kilometres out of the city to the banks of the Pungue, where they decided to kill Bota for fear that she would be able to identify them. They tied her up and threw her into the river.

According to Macuacua, the police were able to solve the crime thanks to the cooperation of an employee of the Beira Nautical Club, who was a close friend of Bota. He had been in the car with her on Thursday, and she dropped him immediately before picking him the three murders.

The police moved against the gang on Saturday. One of them confessed to the crime and led the police to the other two. The three criminals have not yet been named.

The body of Ines Bota, who had lived in Beira for 18 months, will now be flown to Portugal for burial.

Source: AIM