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Kate and Gerry McCann are demolished in
the judgement of the Supreme Court in
which the former coordinator of the PJ
is acquitted of paying half a million
euros to the parents of the girl who
disappeared in May 2007 in the Algarve.
At stake is the book 'Maddie: The Truth
of the Lie', in which Amaral argues that
the girl died in an accident and that
the body was concealed by the parents,
who simulated an abduction.
The McCanns felt aggrieved by the book
and sued the author. The
Judge-Counsellors replied: "The
defendant [Gonçalo Amaral] expressed his
opinion in the light of the evidence and
indications gathered in the
investigation opened in virtue of the
disappearance of Madeleine McCann on May
3, 2007 (...) Incidentally, the
claimants (appellants, applicants) were
constituted as arguidos in a criminal
investigation, which implies that there
was a well-founded suspicion of having
committed crimes or crimes."
Kate and Gerry understand that the book
is an attack on their honour and that
the content results from the breach of
professional secrecy by Gonçalo Amaral.
The Judge-Counsellors continue: "It is
true that the criminal investigation was
eventually archived, in virtue of none
of the evidence that led to the
constitution of the claimants as
arguidos was confirmed. Nonetheless,
even in the archiving dispatch serious
reservations are made about the
verisimilitude (reality of) of the
allegation that Madeleine had been
abducted."
As to the presumption of innocence
invoked by the parents, they (Judges)
consider that one should not say "that
the claimants were acquitted through the
order of archiving the criminal
proceedings (investigation). The
archiving was determined because it was
not possible to obtain sufficient
evidence of the practice of crimes. It
does not seem reasonable to consider
that said archiving dispatch, based on
insufficient evidence, should be equated
as substantiation (proof) of
exoneration". |
