(27.11.2013, 10.00am)
Dra Isabel Duarte, the McCanns' lawyer, is today
substituted by her assistant, Dr Ricardo Afonso.
The Judge seeks further confirmation from Gonçalo
Amaral's lawyer that they no longer wish to call Dr
Paulo Sargento to the stand
Defence lawyers who were previously ordered to
provide financial documents to the Court seek and
receive a 10 day extension.
Witness Luis Froes is recalled today to
give further evidence. He previously testified on
the 5 November having been called by lawyer Dr.
Henrique Costa Pinto acting on behalf of Valentim
de CarvalhoFilmes and VC Multimedia. His return
to Court today was ordered by the Judge following
his failure to provide qualified responses to
certain questions on the previous occasion.
Dr. Henrique Costa Pinto, is the only lawyer to
question the witness.
VC - refers to some invoices which the Clerk to
the Court presents to LF, and asks to what they
refer.
LF reads and says he is aware of these
documents.
VC - What is the first document about?
LF presumes that it is about the cost of the
seals.
VC - Is it an invoice?
LF says the amount is €75,000. He adds that
the seals guarantee the authenticity of the product.
VC - Is the function of the seals to authenticate
the DVDs?
LF - It is. The witness thinks that the
contract indicated that VC Multimedia were
responsible for the cost of the seals.
VC adds that VC Multimedia had to prove
that it had the rights.
LF reads the second document.
VC - Getting back on the first document.
LF - VC Multimedia charged
Presslivre - Imprensa Livre, S.A. (owner of the
newspaper Correio da Manhã) with the cost of
the seals.
VC - About the second document?
LF says it is an invoice for €xxxxxx to
Presslivre.
VC - And about the third document?
LF - It concerns the distributed copies.
VC - Do you remember having given authorisation
to destroy the unsold copies?
LF says he does vaguely remember they were
destroyed.
VC - Is it usual practice when products cease to
be bought?
LF says it is.
VC - There is a number that doesn't correspond to
the number of surplus copies. It seems the invoice
concerns fewer copies than there actually were.
Subtracting to the number of distributed copies for
sale the number of unsold (destroyed) copies gives a
slight difference in relation to the invoice.
LF doesn't explain this difference.
VC - Apart from this edition, was there a second
edition in Portugal or in other foreign countries?
LF says that in this case he would have had
to authorise it, which he never did.
VC - You don't remember.
LF says he doesn't.
Examination of witness ends.
After a short break, the Plaintiffs lawyer Dr
Ricardo Afonso plays a recording of the original TV
broadcast of the documentary (with publicity etc.)
to the Court on a small screen. After a few
technical problems, he decides to substitute the
original broadcast with the DVD.
The Judge takes some notes.
It is scheduled that two video presentations are
also played to the Court, but Dr Ricardo Afonso
desists of the first one (an interview recorded on
16 May 2009) and instead plays the second one, an
interview from the Querida Julia ( Dear Julia)
talk-show transmitted by SIC TV on 27 May
2009.
Notes from the Júlia Pinheiro (Querida Júlia)
talk-show:
Taking part are Gonçalo Amaral, Paulo Sargento
and, on the phone from Brussels, Duarte Levy.
The video starts with mention of GA's
condemnation related to his involvement in the Joana
Cipriano case. GA states that the new suspect is a
British man (whose name is never disclosed, but
everybody will understand who he is, a dying man)
accused of assaulting teenagers and with convictions
in the UK. GA criticises the PJ for having let the
private detective group Metodo 3 undertake the
investigation of this man and his possible
involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann. Duarte Levy states that the suspect is in
Germany and that he was informed that this man
(married to a German woman) wasn't properly
investigated in Germany and that detectives weren't
even allowed into his hospital room. The discussion
expands to cover the moral aspect of taking
advantage of someone who is seriously ill. Duarte
Levy says that the documentary, with English
subtitles, made it possible for those with little or
no understanding of the Maddie case to appreciate in
less than an hour what was at stake. Paulo Sargento
underlines that little is known about what really
happened between 5.30pm and 8.30pm and adds that the
British investigators' paedophile hypothesis is
geographically implausible. Gonçalo Amaral concludes
saying that trusting in justice is a must (referring
to his condemnation in the Joana Case).
The gathering of evidence has concluded.
The Judge proposes that the last session with the
allegations and statements from the parties be fixed
for the 18 December but changes this to 7 January
2014 which is the first date when all parties will
be available.
End of session.
