MADELEINE MCCANN – PARECE MESMO QUE FOI MORTA

Este caso é muito complexo, mas a nossa convicção inicial de que Madeleine McCann tinha sido raptada, para adopção ilegal, e que, por isso, estaria viva e de relativamente boa saúde caiu por terra, perante novos e inquietantes factos revelados.


Quem a matou e quem ocultou o pequeno cadáver?

Entre o nosso desejo de que tivéssemos acertado na explicação inicial e a análise dos novos factos interpõe-se uma barreira de dúvidas sobre a condição humana, na União Europa em 2007.

Ainda há pouco foi raptado, na Venezuela, um grupo de portugueses, um adulto e três adolescentes. A polícia da Venezuela começou a perseguir os bandidos. Tudo isto fazia sentido – os bandidos tinham feito um rapto para ganharem dinheiro. Entretanto, a polícia venezuelana só não encontrou ainda o adulto.
O caso Madeleine não é ‘politicamente correcto’. Ainda não sabemos a verdade fundamentada, mas receamos que seja «uma verdade inconveniente».
A família McCann, depois de Kate e Gerry terem sido, formalmente, considerados suspeitos, voou para a Inglaterra. É curioso que as penas do código penal inglês são muito mais duras do que as do código penal português, por exemplo, na Inglaterra a pena máxima é prisão perpétua, e em Portugal a pena máxima é de 25 anos de prisão.
Este caso Madeleine McCann, apesar de toda a divulgação mediática que tem tido é ainda mais importante do que o que parece, visto que questiona as profundezas da condição humana.
Deu origem a uma perplexidade global.
A seguir vão opiniões de três media ingleses: «Sky News» o.l., «The Observer»/«The Guardian», e «The Sun» :





« 'We Will Rally Round As Much As We Can'
Updated: 18:18, Sunday September 09, 2007
The parents of Madeleine McCann have arrived in their home village after being named as suspects in the four-year-old's disappearance.
After they flew in to Britain, a tearful Gerry McCann read a statement saying: "We played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter."
He and his wife Kate, 39, said they had left with the "full agreement" of the Portuguese police.
Detectives have told Sky News the investigation could take another year, and the couple could be called back to Portugal "at any time".
The two doctors were comforted by British holidaymakers on the flight from Faro airport in Portugal.
The plane landed at East Midlands Airport at 12.15pm. The McCanns then drove to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire.
Later, a family friend who gave her name as Amanda, left the family home, saying; "It's just good to have them back.
"We're going to rally round as much as we can, and whatever Kate and Gerry need, we'll be there for them."
The McCanns returned to the UK 129 days after Madeleine vanished from their holiday apartment in the Algarve resort of Praia Da Luz .
Sky News Online's Kate Sullivan, who was on flight 6552 with the family, said they were whisked through the VIP section and allowed on to the jet first.
Sullivan said the McCanns sat with their twins Sean and Amelie in the front row of the plane. The second row was kept empty to give them some privacy.
Passengers offered words of comfort as they filed past them on the plane.
Sullivan said: "There was a huge media scrum at the airport, with reporters from all around the world.
"The plane is full. But one TV broadcaster was offering significant sums of cash to passengers to try and get on the flight."
Sky News presenter Kay Burley, at Faro airport, said it was a very sad day for the family.
She added: "They arrived as a family of five. They are going back as a family of four."
British passengers on the same flight as the McCanns told Sky News how sad it was for them to leave without Madeleine.
Diana Moran, the former Green Goddess on the BBC's Breakfast Time show, said: "Can you imagine being them? Their nightmare is getting worse and worse and worse.
"I'd love to go up to them and give them a hug."
Another passenger, who gave her name as Becky, said: "I think everyone's thinking just how terribly sad it is for them. It's a tragedy."
The McCanns have no bail conditions attached to their arguido, or formal suspect, status and retain their passports.
Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "It appears a deal has been struck - the authorities are satisfied that Kate and Gerry McCann will return to Portugal if required.
"The fact they are official suspects and haven't been charged suggests the case against them isn't as strong as the police have suggested."
Police changed the couple's status from witnesses to suspects after questioning them separately at Portimao police station.
Sources close to the family say detectives believe the two doctors may be responsible for the four-year-old's death - a suggestion wholly rejected by the McCanns' friends and family. »

(In «Sky News» o.l.)





«McCanns to fly home amid fear of charges


Ned Temko and Mark Townsend in Portimao
Sunday September 9, 2007
The Observer
Kate and Gerry McCann were due to fly home to Britain this morning amid mounting speculation that they were involved in the disappearance and possible death of their daughter, Madeleine.
It is believed the McCanns fear they could be charged with their daughter's death after they were named as official suspects this week by Portuguese police. But sources close to the investigation told The Observer that DNA evidence that led to the couple being considered suspects was incomplete and not a perfect match to their daughter.
________________________________________

Although evidence from blood found on the floor of the family's holiday flat was said to be 'very strong', it was not conclusive.
The first authoritative account of the sudden change of direction in the search for the missing four-year-old came last night from a senior source who is close to both the British and Portuguese police teams.
In a dramatic sign of the growing tension surrounding the fast-moving investigation, it also emerged that family and friends of the McCanns were in contact with the Foreign Office in the hope of securing support from the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband.
The McCanns spoke to Miliband a month ago, and family sources said he had been 'very supportive'. Now, they are hoping he might help head off any decision to lay charges against the McCanns on the basis of what one relative branded as 'repulsive' suggestions they were involved in their daughter's disappearance.
Revealing the details behind the decision to shift the focus of the investigation onto the McCanns, the source said that in addition to the blood at the holiday flat, DNA evidence had been found in a car rented by the McCanns more than two weeks after Madeleine went missing.
He said that while both samples had matched Madeleine's DNA, since they had degraded over time, this was based on an incomplete picture - only 15 of the available 20 genetic markers usually used for such analysis were found: 'Nineteen out of 20 is what we consider conclusive. In this case, they could extract only 15 - but all of the 15 exactly matched Madeleine's DNA.' He also dismissed as 'simply wrong' recent media reports that blood had been found in the car.
He said the Portuguese police were taking the sample recovered from the flat seriously - in part because of 'contradictions and changes' in the accounts given by the McCanns and their friends of what happened the night Madeleine disappeared.
It was the arrival last week of the DNA test results from Britain's Forensic Science Service laboratory in Birmingham that prompted Portuguese police to call in the girl's parents for questioning - and the decision, confirmed yesterday morning, to name both of them as arguidos, or formal suspects.
The source said the DNA from the rental car had come from the interior of the vehicle and not from blood. Given the passage of time, it 'could have come from any item, [such as] clothing, which Madeleine had contact with before she went missing'.
But the key sample, he said, came from blood found in the flat where the family was staying at the Mark Warner resort in Praia da Luz. 'It was a small quantity and was found on the floor, which had been washed a number of times since Madeleine's disappearance,' he said.
The source added that it was the 'very strong' probability from the DNA results of a direct match with Madeleine that convinced police to put 'detailed and specific questions' to her parents'. Their answers 'did not provide a satisfactory explanation, which is why it became virtually inevitable under the Portuguese legal system that they would be named arguidos before further questioning'.
Amid the shock of the shift in the investigation and alarm over the possibility of formal charges, the McCanns' family and closest friends yesterday rallied in support. One friend, describing the 'ordeal' of hours of police questioning on Friday and Saturday, remarked last night: 'They did not give Portuguese police the satisfaction of crying.'
Kate McCann's uncle, Brian Kennedy, said: 'We still say as a family and friends that this suggestion that in some way they were responsible for the death of Madeleine is just nonsense, pure and simple.'
Portuguese police, meanwhile, last night described as 'absolutely absurd' reports that Kate McCann was offered a plea bargain during questioning should she admit to the accidental death of her daughter.
The McCanns' Portuguese lawyer, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, said that the newspaper reports were due to a 'misunderstanding' that had arisen during questioning. »

(In «The Guardian»/«The Observer»)



«McCanns return to the UK

By ONLINE REPORTER
September 09, 2007

MISSING Madeleine McCann’s family arrived at a Portuguese airport today to fly home to Britain.
Kate and Gerry McCann set off from the village of Praia da Luz with their two-year-old twins Sean and Amelie at 7.10am.
They arrived at Faro Airport just after 8am and will fly back to East Midlands Airport on the 9.30am easyJet flight.
Madeleine’s parents fear they could be charged over their daughter’s death after Portuguese police named them as “arguidos”, or official suspects, in her disappearance.
After undergoing intense questioning by detectives on Thursday and Friday, they wanted to fly back to their home in Rothley, Leicestershire, as soon as possible.
The McCanns’ family spokeswoman Justine McGuinness confirmed their last-minute decision to fly home today in a statement just after midnight.
She said: “Kate and Gerry will be returning home to the UK this morning as originally planned. They will depart from Faro Airport.
“It is emphasised that their return is with the full agreement of the Portuguese authorities and police.”
The McCanns decided to return to the UK after “careful thought” in order to reintroduce their twins Sean and Amelie “as much as possible to an ordinary life in their home country”, she added.
They will also be considering their response to the “deeply
disturbing” events of the last few days.
Ms McGuinness said: “Their heartfelt plea is that the search for Madeleine should continue and that people should continue to remain vigilant.”
There is “so much” the couple want to say but they are banned from doing so by Portuguese law, but they continued to affirm they played “no part” in the disappearance of their beloved daughter, she said.
The McCanns have no bail conditions attached to their arguido status and still retain their passports.
But police could in theory apply for a court to impose movement restrictions on them.
Several weeks ago the couple made provisional plans to return to the UK with Sean and Amelie today. But they put this on hold after Portuguese police summoned them back in for questioning this week and made them arguidos.
Family friends said yesterday the couple intended to remain in the Algarve for the time being to “help the police”, but were taking legal advice on whether they could return to the UK.
Now in a sudden turnabout they have reinstated the original plans. Mr McCann’s sister Philomena, 43, spoke to her brother on the telephone yesterday, just hours after he left a Portuguese police station following eight hours of questioning.
She said the family still hoped to leave Portugal and return to Britain within days, but were worried about how it would be interpreted.
“Gerry is saying he doesn’t want it to look like they are running scared,” she added.
“He doesn’t want it too look as if they are running away, because that is nonsense.”
The announcement of the family’s return comes after a series of dramatic developments in the case.
On Monday detectives telephoned Mr McCann to summon him and his wife in for further questioning.
On Thursday Mrs McCann went to the headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria (PJ) - Portugal’s CID - in the Algarve town of Portimao and underwent 11 hours of questioning.
During the interview detectives suggested that traces of Madeleine’s blood were found in the family’s hire car, a silver Renault Scenic.
Mrs McCann is understood to have told them angrily there was “no way” this could be the case because they did not lease the vehicle until 25 days after her daughter disappeared.

She returned to the police station on Friday and was formally declared an arguida.
Detectives asked her 22 key questions about what happened to Madeleine, including if she accidentally killed her.
The 39-year-old GP now fears she will be charged over Madeleine’s death, a family friend said.
Mr McCann, 39, was interviewed separately for eight hours the same day, and was also made an arguido. Portuguese detectives appear to be working on the theory that Mrs McCann killed her daughter by accident and covered up the death by claiming she was abducted.
Test results from the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham received in recent days have apparently boosted this hypothesis. Mr McCann’s alleged role is not clear, but sources said police believe he was an accessory to the killing.
The McCanns, who strenuously protest their innocence, are said to be “in a state of shock but also extraordinarily angry” about Portuguese detectives’ line of questioning. »


(In «The Sun»)









A SEGUIR, UM OLHAR DOS ESTADOS UNIDOS PARA ESTE CASO, ATRAVÉS DA CNN:



« RY HIGHLIGHTS
Parents of Madeleine McCann arrive back in England from Portugal
Father: Return without missing daughter heartbreaking; vows search goes on
Portuguese police named both parents suspects in the disappearance
British girl reported missing from Praia da Luz resort in Portugal on May 3
Next Article in World »



ROTHLEY, England (CNN) -- Madeleine McCann's father says the return of his family to Britain without his missing daughter is heartbreaking but it does not mean they are abandoning the search for her.

Gerry McCann also insisted Sunday he and his wife Kate played no part in the disappearance four months ago of Madeleine despite being named by Portuguese police as suspects in the case.
The McCanns flew from Faro in southern Portugal with their 2-year-old twins Sean and Amelie. At East Midlands airport in central England, Gerry McCann said the events of the last few days had been deeply disturbing.
"While it is heartbreaking to return to the UK without Madeleine, it does not mean we are giving up the search for her," he said. The McCanns, their friends and relatives say they are holding out hope that Madeleine is alive and will be found.
"We have played no part in the disappearance of our lovely daughter Madeleine," he added.
The family then traveled to their home in the Leicestershire village of Rothley, 170 kilometers (110 miles) north of London, where dozens of TV camera crews and journalists were waiting.
The McCanns reported that Madeleine had gone missing days before her 4th birthday on May 3 from their holiday apartment in Praia Da Luz in southern Portugal.
The parents told police they had left the girl and her siblings asleep in the unlocked apartment as they dined just meters away, checking on them frequently. However, later in the evening they discovered she was missing.
The case became a sensation in the British press and then internationally, with celebrities, including soccer icon David Beckham, offering their help. The parents traveled abroad to drum up support and even met Pope Benedict XVI.
But on Friday police in Portugal named the couple suspects after finding Madeleine's blood in a car the family rented 25 days after reporting her disappearance, a family spokeswoman said.
Officers in Portimao put the couple through intense rounds of questioning over the past few days, and declared them "arguidos," which, under Portuguese law, allows investigators to pose certain types of questions.
Arguidos also get certain legal protections that are not extended to mere witnesses. The term "arguido" is generally translated as "suspect." Portuguese authorities have not commented on the investigation.
The couple had vowed to stay in Portugal to clear their name, but on Sunday family spokeswoman Justine McGuinness said the McCanns were "returning to Britain after careful thought" and to give their twins a more normal life.
"I would like to emphasize that their return is with the full agreement of the Portuguese authorities and the police," McGuinness added.
The McCanns have consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Don't Miss
Portuguese police call parents suspects
Madeleine's parents sue newspaper
In an interview published in the Sunday Mirror, Kate McCann is quoted as saying of the Portuguese police, "They want me to lie -- I'm being framed."
Philomena McCann, the sister of Madeleine's father, told the British news network ITN that police "tried to get Kate to confess to having accidentally killed Madeleine by offering her a deal through her lawyer" in which she would say she killed Madeleine by accident "and then disposed of the body."
The Sunday Mirror quoted Kate McCann discussing the offer.
"They are basically saying, 'If you confess Madeleine had an accident, and that I panicked and hid the body in a bag for a month then got rid of it in a hire car, I'd get two or three years' suspended sentence,'" she is quoted as saying, adding, "Police don't want a murder in Portugal."
Portuguese Law
Formal suspect called "arguido," or "arguida" for a woman
An arguido has more legal rights than a witness, including right to remain silent and have a lawyer
Some people request to be declared arguido to get this protection
Police must declare a witness an arguido before asking certain questions or making an arrest
Courts may restrict movements of an arguido
An arrest or charge does not always follow someone being named an arguido
The paper also quoted her as saying Portuguese police don't want "the publicity about them not having pedophile laws here, so they're blaming us." The U.S. State Department's latest annual report on human rights practices in different countries calls the Portuguese government "strongly committed to children's rights and welfare," and cites the "high-profile trial of a pedophilia operation" in Lisbon.
Numerous friends and relatives of the McCanns have called any allegations of them having harmed the girl ridiculous.
On Saturday, Kate McCann's mother Susan Healy told ITN, "It's ludicrous. It's bizarre ... Kate never raises her voice to her children. She's the most loving and gentle mother."
"She's kind, gentle, funny, she has a good sense of humor -- a person with a good sense of integrity, as is Gerry," Susan Healy said.
A friend who has known Kate McCann for 30 years agreed that it was "unthinkable" that the McCanns would have harmed their child.
"I've not spoken to them in the last say two or three days, but I'm sure they're probably struggling," Nicky Gill told ITN in Liverpool.
"To even think that someone might harm the children. They're just family people. They love the children to death. ... I'm sure they have to be devastated to know someone would even think that."

Gill said she is convinced that the girl is still alive.
"I think she's out there somewhere. I like to think it's just a phone call »

(In «CNN» o.l.)



AGORA, UM OLHAR DO BRASIL PARA O CASO MADELEINE, ATRAVÉS DA «FOLHA DE S. PAULO»:

« 09/09/2007 - 17h52
Pais de Madeleine, já na Inglaterra, insistem em
inocência

da Associated Press
da Reuters
O casal inglês Kate e Gerry McCann, considerados suspeitos pelo desaparecimento da filha Madeleine, 4, voltaram à Inglaterra neste domingo e insistiram que são inocentes.
"Nós não brincamos com o desaparecimento de nossa querida filha Madeleine", disse Gerry McCann, com a voz embargada, ao desembarcar no aeroporto de East Midlands.
A PJ (Polícia Judiciária) portuguesa disse que a decisão do casal McCann de voltar para a Inglaterra complicará e possivelmente atrasará a investigação.
O casal, personagem central do trágico desaparecimento que intriga milhões ao redor do mundo, saiu de Portugal com o consentimento das autoridades portuguesas.
"A lei portuguesa nos proíbe de comentar algo sobre a investigação", Gerry disse em breve declaração no terminal do aeroporto enquanto o casal levava no colo seus outros dois filhos --um casal de gêmeos com dois anos.
"É de quebrar o coração retornar para o Reino Unido sem Madeleine, mas isso não significa que desistiremos de sua busca",concluiu.
O porta-voz da polícia portuguesa, Olegário de Souza, disse que o casal McCann pode ser chamado de volta para Portugal a qualquer momento.
"Esta partida obviamente complica as coisas e pode atrasar a investigação pois nós não teremos mais muito contato com eles como antes", disse.
Souza disse ainda que os McCann sempre puderam voltar para casa porque eles não foram em nenhum momento acusados de algum ato ilegal.
Gerry McCann pediu privacidade mas o casal foi cumprimentado por um batalhão de fotógrafos e câmeras de TV no retorno à casa, que fica na cidade de Rothley (centro da Inglaterra).
Eles insistiram, ainda no aeroporto de Faro (sul de Portugal), que não voltaram para casa por causa da investigação, e sim devido aos filhos gêmeos.
O advogado dos McCann em Portugal, Carlos Pinto de Abreu, disse que não tem idéia de quanto tempo o caso pode ser concluído, dado os sérios problemas burocráticos da polícia e da Justiça portuguesa. »

(In «Folha de S. Paulo»)