Brazilian gets life in prison for Spanish family slayings

MADRID (AP) — A judge in Spain on Thursday handed down three life sentences to a Brazilian man convicted of the gruesome slayings of his aunt, uncle and two young cousins.

A jury in Guadalajara, near Madrid, had found Patrick Nogueira guilty of premeditated murder of the four earlier this month. The judge announced Nogueira's sentence Thursday, saying parole reviews would be allowed.

Nogueira's aunt and uncle were in their early 40s and his cousins were 1 and 4 years old at the time of the 2016 killings. Nogueira was 19.

Nogueira confessed to the crimes but argued that he was mentally disturbed and suffers from alcoholism.

Prosecutors said Nogueira chopped up his aunt and uncle with tree-pruning shears. A month later, neighbors complained of a bad smell coming from the Guadalajara house. Inside, authorities found plastic bags, which Nogueira had taken there with him, containing the bodies.

The judge said in a written statement that she gave Nogueira a life sentence for each child killed because he showed exceptional cruelty. They both witnessed their mother's murder.

Nogueira received a 25-year prison sentence for his aunt's murder, which is the customary length, plus a life sentence for his uncle's murder because he was a second adult killed in the case, which under Spanish law makes a life sentence applicable.

The court found that the absence of defensive wounds on the two adults indicated Nogueira attacked them without warning with a knife he had bought several days earlier.

It rejected Nogueira's argument that he was not of sound mind.

Prosecutors in the case described Nogueira as a psychopath.