Man Kills His Gay Partner with African Spear over Too Much Sex Argument

 

Simon Carley-Pocock, A Brirish accountant, killed at his hilltop home in Portugal.

Eugenio Felipe Reicha, 21,
Gardener and accused killer

A gardener accused of killing his gay British accountant lover with an African spear after a bedroom row in Portugal has been convicted of the grisly murder.

Eugenio Felipe Reicha, 21, was sentenced to 14-and-a-half years in jail after being found guilty of killing expat Simon Carley-Pocock at his hilltop home in Portugal.

Three judges decided Reicha's fate after a trial at a court in the Algarve city of Faro, which ended with a verdict after six separate hearings over five months.

Thirteen years of his sentence were for the homicide. The other year-and-a-half came after he was convicted of stealing about  £17,000 of valuables from his victim's home near the pretty tourist village of Alcoutim an hour north of Faro, and driving without a licence. 

Handcuffed Reicha, who now sports a Mohawk and a goatee beard, stared straight at lead judge Henrique Pavao as the verdict was read out in open court on Friday but showed no emotion.

Afterwards, he was driven back to nearby Olhao prison to start his sentence.

University-educated Mr Carley-Pocock, 58, originally form Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, was found dead on April 5 last year.

 

Reicha, who was described as the expat's lover in court, was initially arrested after being stopped without a driving licence in the Brit's Audi A4 convertible.

He confessed to police he had stabbed his victim in a drug-fuelled rage with a spear he threw out of the car as he left the crime scene after a small knife he also used was discovered on him.

The court trying Reicha heard at the start of his trial that he had told detectives after his arrest that he lashed out during a row when Mr Carley-Pocock demanded more sex.

A friend of the killer, who was rumored to have been working as a rent boy at the time of his crime, told how Reicha showed him sick mobile phone photos of the dead Brit in bed with his intestines hanging out and confessed to the killing.

The court also heard how he tried to sell a TV stolen from Mr Carley-Pocock's cottage and two blood-covered cameras to another pal.

He refused to testify in court and gave no explanation for his horrific act.

A psychiatrist who examined Reicha said he had an 'explosive personality' and showed 'indifference' to his crime - but was fit for trial.

Mr Carley-Pocock, who was found naked with chest, stomach and head injuries, is said to have died between 1pm on April 3 and the early hours of April 4 last year.

Public prosecutor Brizida Miguel claimed ahead of the trial: 'Eugenio Reicha did what he did with the intention of causing his victim's death, without any apparent motive.

'He had an intimate relationship with this person. He acted in an insensitive manner and with total indifference for his victim’s life.'

Mr Pavao, the only one of the three sentencing judges at the hearing, rejected prosecution claims he killed his victim to facilitate the theft and said he was convicting him of simple homicide rather than a crime of qualified homicide which is reserved for the worst type of murders and carries a stiffer penalty.

He told him before sending him to jail: 'Fourteen and a half years can seem like a lot of time to some and a short time to others.

'You can use it to become a man and if that's the case it's a proper penalty, or you can keep being a nobody and continue to be aggressive and uncaring about others. It's up to you.'

Explaining a court decision to destroy Reicha's mobile phone after it was seized and used as evidence, he added: 'You used the phone to take a photo of what you did and boast about it.

'It was a hideous act. It would be immoral to give it back to you.'

The killer's defence lawyer Vera Goncalves admitted outside court: 'The verdict is what we expected.

‘I'm going to talk with my client but he was ready for this decision.

'If we appeal it will only be about the time he's been ordered to spend in prison, not the convictions.

'I requested psychiatric expertise because I thought I could influence the decision. The reports confirmed he had abnormalities but nothing that would influence things from a criminal perspective.'

University of Hertfordshire-educated Mr Carley-Pocock, who is thought to have given up his accountancy job and move abroad to rest after being diagnosed with a serious illness, had been living in Portugal for several years.

Respected Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias said at the time of the murder the dead man was a HIV carrier but police sources insisted they had did not think it had anything to do with the crime.

An ex-British boyfriend helped police piece together his last hours and collect forensic evidence after the killing, but neither he or any other family or friends were at yesterday afternoon's/Friday afternoon's hearing.

Reicha, grew up in institutions and was nicknamed Fantasma by friends - a nickname that literally means 'ghost' in English but can also be used to describe a mysterious character. 

He was alone in court at the time of the sentencing. 

This story originally posted at the Daily Mail.co.uk