MADELEINE MCCANN – OS FACTOS E AS OPINIÕES
1) O que nos levou a pensar que se divulgássemos elementos sobre o caso Madeleine McCann, nomeadamente fotografias (e logo que nos foi possível uma fotografia de boa nitidez, que mostra bastante bem as características dos olhos,
que enche os écrans dos computadores) foi a ideia de que tinha sido raptada para adopção ilegal. E que a Internet permite, rapidamente, a observação de fotografias, com nitidez muito apreciável, para tirar dúvidas.
2) É óbvio que esta era a hipótese menos desagradável, mas colocámo-la com base num conjunto de factos, captados nos «media» tradicionais e na Internet.
3) Hoje podemos dizer, que há «media» britânicos que insistem nesta ideia, que também foi nossa, de que Madeleine McCann foi raptada e que está viva. Só que nos parece, neste momento, mais a expressão de uma opinião, do que uma conclusão, baseada em todos os dados divulgados até este momento.
4) Os factos mais importantes para elaborar conclusões, depois dos resultados negativos dos testes de ADN da pista da Bélgica, são os dados que serão fornecidos pelos cientistas britânicos do «Forensic Science Service (FSS)», situado em Birmingham..
5) Enquanto as conclusões do FSS de Birmingham não forem conhecidas, prevalecerão, quer nos «media» tradicionais quer na Internet, mais as opiniões, do que as conclusões.
6) A passagem do tempo, a partir de agora, vai permitir, verificar quais são as opiniões mais lógicas, com base nos factos.
7) A nós faltam-nos alguns elementos essenciais, que serão mais dia menos dia divulgados pelo FSS de Birmingham, para fundamentar ou não o pessimismo das nossas actuais conclusões.
8) O jornal britânico «The Guardian» continua a dar uma importância quase decisiva ao trabalho do FSS de Birmingham.
« Ordeal by innuendo for parents who can only wait
One by one the leads are discounted, only to be replaced by more theories
Esther Addley in Praia da Luz
Thursday August 9, 2007
The Guardian
As on almost every day since their daughter Madeleine disappeared more than three months ago, Gerry and Kate McCann dropped their two-year-old twins off at playschool yesterday morning. They then went to visit the local police.
The couple have fallen into a normal domestic routine of sorts in Praia da Luz, the small Algarve town where the toddler vanished on May 3 and where they have vowed to remain until she is found.
Now they are back at the centre of media attention unseen since the early weeks of the case. Yesterday's hour-long meeting was a routine briefing on developments in the case, the couple's spokesman said. But it seems certain it was also prompted by allegations of developments in the case that for the couple are far from welcome.
The discovery last weekend of a spot of blood in the apartment where they were staying when Madeleine disappeared has unleashed a storm of speculation and innuendo in the Portuguese media, much of it suggesting new theories about the toddler's disappearance and probable death.
There was more of it yesterday: the local Diario de Noticias reported that police had been intercepting phone calls and emails as part of the investigation. That claim, like many others, was attributed to unnamed and unverifiable figures in the Portuguese police.
Local officers have refused to confirm or deny the speculation which on Tuesday forced the McCanns to give a television interview insisting that they retained confidence in the inquiry. But if the couple managed then to contain their exasperation, one of their friends has not. Rachael Oldfield, who was among the party having dinner with the couple when Madeleine vanished, yesterday described the speculation as "very hurtful and all rather ludicrous".
"I think there are some leaks coming from the police but a lot of what I have read recently has been completely untrue," she told the London Evening Standard. "It is difficult to defend ourselves because the investigation and everything in it is confidential." Of the reported scrutiny of emails she said: "It's just made up."
It is high season in the Algarve and Praia da Luz has returned to doing what it does best, accommodating crowds of holidaymakers on its picturesque town beach. Until last week it seemed that the investigations in the town had largely run their course. The McCanns' holiday apartment, deemed no longer of interest to police, was let out to other families, and the crowds of journalists gradually dispersed. But this week attention returned to the town after British police joined local officers to search again the significant sites in the case, including the home of Robert Murat, the local man who is the only official suspect.
The latest of the theories appeared, like so many of the rest, to have disintegrated yesterday. Belgian police said that DNA tests from a restaurant where a woman reported seeing Madeleine did not match the missing girl. Other reports have suggested that a paedophile who has been linked to the disappearance of a Swiss five-year-old was holidaying in the Algarve in early May. A Swiss police spokesman said yesterday that they had never suggested there was a link to the Portuguese case.
Even if the speck of blood turns out to be Madeleine's, a leading forensics expert said yesterday it would not prove a thing. Derrick Pounder, professor of forensic medicine at Dundee University, said the tests would not be able to determine whether the blood was from a living person or a very recently dead one. In addition, he said, it could come from any number of the scores of people who have spent time in the room.
"The speculation is so far ahead of the logical approach to the science that it becomes unreasonable," he said. "There's a whole series of steps to go through before you get to the stage of even thinking about anything sinister." In any case, he added: "What are the odds that it's hers? I would say they are pretty low."
The results are likely to take at least a week. In the meantime, the authorities, along with the McCann family circle, must once again simply wait. »
(In «The Guardian»)
9) Outras opiniões
«Judiciária chamou os McCann para interrogatório
Judiciária quer esclarecer versões contraditórias
A Polícia Judiciária (PJ), que dá como certa a morte de Madeleine McCann no apartamento da Praia da Luz onde passava férias com a família, voltou ontem à tarde a interrogar os pais da criança. A inquirição, apurou o DN, prolongou-se por cerca de uma hora no Departamento de Investigação Criminal de Portimão (DIC).
Segundo fonte ligada ao processo, o objectivo do interrogatório visou esclarecer "algumas discrepâncias no discurso" dos McCann quando a filha desapareceu, a 3 de Maio. Os investigadores voltaram, assim, à carga, para ouvir, de novo, o casal dizer como, com quem e onde passou as horas que antecederam o desaparecimento de Madeleine.
Esta reunião nada teve a ver com as regulares reuniões semanais dos McCann com a PJ no consulado britânico, em Portimão. Esses encontros decorrem normalmente à quinta-feira e neles participa o director nacional adjunto da PJ Guilhermino Encarnação. O objectivo é informar da evolução das investigações, que o casal não se cansa de elogiar nas suas declarações à imprensa.
Só que ontem a Judiciária quis esclarecer as dúvidas crescentes em torno do "contexto familiar e de proximidade" do casal McCann.
Gerry e Kate saíram às 17.20, pelas traseiras da garagem do edifício da PJ, na viatura que têm utilizado no Algarve e que foi alvo de perícias policiais na segunda e terça-feira.
Recorde-se que, na tarde do dia seguinte ao sucedido, a 4 de Maio, e depois de ter ouvido o casal McCann e testemunhas que se encontravam no aldeamento turístico, já a polícia comentava ser esta "uma história muito mal contada", duvidando da versão de rapto então apresentada pelos pais de Maddie, como o DN noticiou.
Quem também passou ontem à tarde pela DIC de Portimão da PJ foi o jornalista espanhol António Toscano, que trabalha para o El Mundo, a fim de entregar um dossier contendo informação sobre pedófilos. Toscano, que continua a afirmar que Maddie está viva, não foi recebido pela PJ, que recusou receber os documentos. O jornalista, cujos testemunhos a PJ tem desvalorizado - garante que um homem conhecido em Espanha por "El Francés", com ligações a redes internacionais de pedofilia, está envolvido no caso Madeleine, podendo ter actuado em colaboração com Jean Pierre Roffi, alegadamente envolvido no caso Casa Pia.
Sangue em Birmingham por razões de segurança
O sangue recolhido no apartamento de onde Maddie desapareceu foi enviado para Birmingham porque em Portugal não existem meios técnicos fiáveis para este tipo de exame, afirmou ao DN fonte ligada ao processo. As técnicas da polícia científica, de tão antiquadas, poderiam destruir a informação contida na amostra, disse.
As buscas no mar e ao longo da praia, que envolveram os cães da polícia britânica, foram ontem suspensas, sem qualquer justificação, apesar de se saber que os ingleses pediram a um especialista da Universidade do Algarve esclarecimentos sobre a dinâmica da orla costeira.
Entretanto, os McCann têm desde ontem um novo porta-voz, o terceiro desde que Madeleine desapareceu. Trata-se de David Hugs, que veio substituir Justine McGill, com quem o casal se terá desentendido.»
(In «Diário de Notícias»)
« 'They Are Giving The Town A Bad Name'
Thursday August 09, 2007
Madeleine McCann's parents should leave Portugal and go home, according to the lawyer for the only official suspect in the case of the missing four-year-old.
Francisco Pagarete said people in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz wanted the couple to go because they were suffering financially from a dip in tourism.
He said locals think the McCanns "should just go away and leave this town. They are giving it a bad name."
Mr Pagarete, who represents suspect Robert Murat, also criticised Kate and Gerry's "strange" behaviour in leaving the youngster alone on the night of May 3 - when she disappeared.
The McCanns have recently come under increasing pressure from the Portuguese media, who say police now think she was not abducted but died in their holiday apartment.
The couple have ended their daily routine of taking their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie to the creche at the Ocean Club resort.
It comes after concerns about photographers taking pictures of their children and disturbing holidaymakers using the child-minding facility.
Kate McCann has insisted her family will not leave without Madeleine.
Mr Pagarete said he thought it was weird that the McCanns would leave their children alone in a foreign country.
The couple, who were dining with friends nearby at the time, have defended their actions, saying it was safe to leave them alone and they were "at worst" naive.
Mr Pagarete told the Evening Standard: "I think it's not normal for someone to leave their kids alone. It's not attacking the McCanns in any way, but it's not the normal thing to do."
Meanwhile, police no longer think that Murat was involved, according to the reports.
DNA analysis of blood traces found in the holiday apartment is now being carried out at a Birmingham laboratory.
One paper has even suggested police "intercepted" emails and phone calls between parents Kate and Gerry McCann and the friends on holiday with them when Madeleine vanished.
Family friends have said they are disgusted about what they said was a smear campaign against them. »
(In «Sky News» on line)
que enche os écrans dos computadores) foi a ideia de que tinha sido raptada para adopção ilegal. E que a Internet permite, rapidamente, a observação de fotografias, com nitidez muito apreciável, para tirar dúvidas.
2) É óbvio que esta era a hipótese menos desagradável, mas colocámo-la com base num conjunto de factos, captados nos «media» tradicionais e na Internet.
3) Hoje podemos dizer, que há «media» britânicos que insistem nesta ideia, que também foi nossa, de que Madeleine McCann foi raptada e que está viva. Só que nos parece, neste momento, mais a expressão de uma opinião, do que uma conclusão, baseada em todos os dados divulgados até este momento.
4) Os factos mais importantes para elaborar conclusões, depois dos resultados negativos dos testes de ADN da pista da Bélgica, são os dados que serão fornecidos pelos cientistas britânicos do «Forensic Science Service (FSS)», situado em Birmingham..
5) Enquanto as conclusões do FSS de Birmingham não forem conhecidas, prevalecerão, quer nos «media» tradicionais quer na Internet, mais as opiniões, do que as conclusões.
6) A passagem do tempo, a partir de agora, vai permitir, verificar quais são as opiniões mais lógicas, com base nos factos.
7) A nós faltam-nos alguns elementos essenciais, que serão mais dia menos dia divulgados pelo FSS de Birmingham, para fundamentar ou não o pessimismo das nossas actuais conclusões.
8) O jornal britânico «The Guardian» continua a dar uma importância quase decisiva ao trabalho do FSS de Birmingham.
« Ordeal by innuendo for parents who can only wait
One by one the leads are discounted, only to be replaced by more theories
Esther Addley in Praia da Luz
Thursday August 9, 2007
The Guardian
As on almost every day since their daughter Madeleine disappeared more than three months ago, Gerry and Kate McCann dropped their two-year-old twins off at playschool yesterday morning. They then went to visit the local police.
The couple have fallen into a normal domestic routine of sorts in Praia da Luz, the small Algarve town where the toddler vanished on May 3 and where they have vowed to remain until she is found.
Now they are back at the centre of media attention unseen since the early weeks of the case. Yesterday's hour-long meeting was a routine briefing on developments in the case, the couple's spokesman said. But it seems certain it was also prompted by allegations of developments in the case that for the couple are far from welcome.
The discovery last weekend of a spot of blood in the apartment where they were staying when Madeleine disappeared has unleashed a storm of speculation and innuendo in the Portuguese media, much of it suggesting new theories about the toddler's disappearance and probable death.
There was more of it yesterday: the local Diario de Noticias reported that police had been intercepting phone calls and emails as part of the investigation. That claim, like many others, was attributed to unnamed and unverifiable figures in the Portuguese police.
Local officers have refused to confirm or deny the speculation which on Tuesday forced the McCanns to give a television interview insisting that they retained confidence in the inquiry. But if the couple managed then to contain their exasperation, one of their friends has not. Rachael Oldfield, who was among the party having dinner with the couple when Madeleine vanished, yesterday described the speculation as "very hurtful and all rather ludicrous".
"I think there are some leaks coming from the police but a lot of what I have read recently has been completely untrue," she told the London Evening Standard. "It is difficult to defend ourselves because the investigation and everything in it is confidential." Of the reported scrutiny of emails she said: "It's just made up."
It is high season in the Algarve and Praia da Luz has returned to doing what it does best, accommodating crowds of holidaymakers on its picturesque town beach. Until last week it seemed that the investigations in the town had largely run their course. The McCanns' holiday apartment, deemed no longer of interest to police, was let out to other families, and the crowds of journalists gradually dispersed. But this week attention returned to the town after British police joined local officers to search again the significant sites in the case, including the home of Robert Murat, the local man who is the only official suspect.
The latest of the theories appeared, like so many of the rest, to have disintegrated yesterday. Belgian police said that DNA tests from a restaurant where a woman reported seeing Madeleine did not match the missing girl. Other reports have suggested that a paedophile who has been linked to the disappearance of a Swiss five-year-old was holidaying in the Algarve in early May. A Swiss police spokesman said yesterday that they had never suggested there was a link to the Portuguese case.
Even if the speck of blood turns out to be Madeleine's, a leading forensics expert said yesterday it would not prove a thing. Derrick Pounder, professor of forensic medicine at Dundee University, said the tests would not be able to determine whether the blood was from a living person or a very recently dead one. In addition, he said, it could come from any number of the scores of people who have spent time in the room.
"The speculation is so far ahead of the logical approach to the science that it becomes unreasonable," he said. "There's a whole series of steps to go through before you get to the stage of even thinking about anything sinister." In any case, he added: "What are the odds that it's hers? I would say they are pretty low."
The results are likely to take at least a week. In the meantime, the authorities, along with the McCann family circle, must once again simply wait. »
(In «The Guardian»)
9) Outras opiniões
«Judiciária chamou os McCann para interrogatório
Judiciária quer esclarecer versões contraditórias
A Polícia Judiciária (PJ), que dá como certa a morte de Madeleine McCann no apartamento da Praia da Luz onde passava férias com a família, voltou ontem à tarde a interrogar os pais da criança. A inquirição, apurou o DN, prolongou-se por cerca de uma hora no Departamento de Investigação Criminal de Portimão (DIC).
Segundo fonte ligada ao processo, o objectivo do interrogatório visou esclarecer "algumas discrepâncias no discurso" dos McCann quando a filha desapareceu, a 3 de Maio. Os investigadores voltaram, assim, à carga, para ouvir, de novo, o casal dizer como, com quem e onde passou as horas que antecederam o desaparecimento de Madeleine.
Esta reunião nada teve a ver com as regulares reuniões semanais dos McCann com a PJ no consulado britânico, em Portimão. Esses encontros decorrem normalmente à quinta-feira e neles participa o director nacional adjunto da PJ Guilhermino Encarnação. O objectivo é informar da evolução das investigações, que o casal não se cansa de elogiar nas suas declarações à imprensa.
Só que ontem a Judiciária quis esclarecer as dúvidas crescentes em torno do "contexto familiar e de proximidade" do casal McCann.
Gerry e Kate saíram às 17.20, pelas traseiras da garagem do edifício da PJ, na viatura que têm utilizado no Algarve e que foi alvo de perícias policiais na segunda e terça-feira.
Recorde-se que, na tarde do dia seguinte ao sucedido, a 4 de Maio, e depois de ter ouvido o casal McCann e testemunhas que se encontravam no aldeamento turístico, já a polícia comentava ser esta "uma história muito mal contada", duvidando da versão de rapto então apresentada pelos pais de Maddie, como o DN noticiou.
Quem também passou ontem à tarde pela DIC de Portimão da PJ foi o jornalista espanhol António Toscano, que trabalha para o El Mundo, a fim de entregar um dossier contendo informação sobre pedófilos. Toscano, que continua a afirmar que Maddie está viva, não foi recebido pela PJ, que recusou receber os documentos. O jornalista, cujos testemunhos a PJ tem desvalorizado - garante que um homem conhecido em Espanha por "El Francés", com ligações a redes internacionais de pedofilia, está envolvido no caso Madeleine, podendo ter actuado em colaboração com Jean Pierre Roffi, alegadamente envolvido no caso Casa Pia.
Sangue em Birmingham por razões de segurança
O sangue recolhido no apartamento de onde Maddie desapareceu foi enviado para Birmingham porque em Portugal não existem meios técnicos fiáveis para este tipo de exame, afirmou ao DN fonte ligada ao processo. As técnicas da polícia científica, de tão antiquadas, poderiam destruir a informação contida na amostra, disse.
As buscas no mar e ao longo da praia, que envolveram os cães da polícia britânica, foram ontem suspensas, sem qualquer justificação, apesar de se saber que os ingleses pediram a um especialista da Universidade do Algarve esclarecimentos sobre a dinâmica da orla costeira.
Entretanto, os McCann têm desde ontem um novo porta-voz, o terceiro desde que Madeleine desapareceu. Trata-se de David Hugs, que veio substituir Justine McGill, com quem o casal se terá desentendido.»
(In «Diário de Notícias»)
« 'They Are Giving The Town A Bad Name'
Thursday August 09, 2007
Madeleine McCann's parents should leave Portugal and go home, according to the lawyer for the only official suspect in the case of the missing four-year-old.
Francisco Pagarete said people in the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz wanted the couple to go because they were suffering financially from a dip in tourism.
He said locals think the McCanns "should just go away and leave this town. They are giving it a bad name."
Mr Pagarete, who represents suspect Robert Murat, also criticised Kate and Gerry's "strange" behaviour in leaving the youngster alone on the night of May 3 - when she disappeared.
The McCanns have recently come under increasing pressure from the Portuguese media, who say police now think she was not abducted but died in their holiday apartment.
The couple have ended their daily routine of taking their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie to the creche at the Ocean Club resort.
It comes after concerns about photographers taking pictures of their children and disturbing holidaymakers using the child-minding facility.
Kate McCann has insisted her family will not leave without Madeleine.
Mr Pagarete said he thought it was weird that the McCanns would leave their children alone in a foreign country.
The couple, who were dining with friends nearby at the time, have defended their actions, saying it was safe to leave them alone and they were "at worst" naive.
Mr Pagarete told the Evening Standard: "I think it's not normal for someone to leave their kids alone. It's not attacking the McCanns in any way, but it's not the normal thing to do."
Meanwhile, police no longer think that Murat was involved, according to the reports.
DNA analysis of blood traces found in the holiday apartment is now being carried out at a Birmingham laboratory.
One paper has even suggested police "intercepted" emails and phone calls between parents Kate and Gerry McCann and the friends on holiday with them when Madeleine vanished.
Family friends have said they are disgusted about what they said was a smear campaign against them. »
(In «Sky News» on line)
publicada por José às
11:00 da tarde
